Corellia Cut 5
by gdedwards11
Summary: The Great Corellian ship yards. Like Coruscant, it is a planet wide company. Ian Bartholomew, the leading ship builder on the planet. The Empire wants him, the Rebels don't want the Empire to get him. He wants his home planet to be rid of the Empire.


Novel - by Geoffrey D. Edwards Under no  
circumstances will this manuscript be released without the express  
permission of Disney and/or the copy write holder

Staris Warsis

Corellia

Contents

Corellia

2\. The Academy 27

3\. Dr. Ian Bartholomew 51

4\. Stronger Yet 66

5\. Infiltration 72

6\. Sith Come Of Age 84

7\. Macy Windy 86

8\. Government 91

9\. Great Ship 97

10\. Another Helpless Planet 105

11\. Deception 120

12\. Magus 124

13\. Student Becomes The Teacher 139

14\. Unexpected Help 155

15\. First And Second Escape 165

16\. Light Saber Acquired 189

17\. Immaculate Conception 194

18\. Followed 274

19\. History of a living ship 295

Star Wars Written by Geoffrey D. Edwards

Corellia

One of the largest space ship manufacturers in all  
of the known galaxy. The planet name, **Corellia**.  
Several light years from Coruscant. Home of the  
great **Corellian ship yards**. Many of the ships  
that are built here are so big that they have to  
be built in space. They have vehicles for personnel  
transport, there are dozens of elevators stretching  
up to the massive space manufacturing facilities in  
space. The elevators, modern, a newer fixture for  
the Corellians. The elevators moved rapidly.  
Moving a person to the space facilities in thirty  
minutes or so. Complete with their version of  
Coffee and condiments, a rest room and TV for  
entertainment. They can sit or stand, no issues  
with air pressure and ears. Enough room for thirty  
people to sit comfortably and very Safe. The Corellian  
ship yards, like most ship yards have parts of old ship  
projects strewn about the plant, planet wide. Junk  
has collected over the years, much of it, covered  
with soot, rust and dirt from wind and rain, some  
covered by vegetation that has been there since  
the beginning, since the start of the ship  
manufacturing revolution. Most of the junk  
has been lying there for so long that it has all  
taken on much the same color. Kept for possible  
parts-needs in the future, the problem, most of  
it or all of it is too old or outdated to use anymore,  
even for parts. The best anyone could hope for  
was to recycle the metal or maybe re-purpose it.

When he was a boy, **Ian Bartholomew** was just a  
gofer of sorts. Running around for all the great ship  
builders and engineers getting the things they needed,  
some of whom didn't even speak the human language.  
Ian was forced to learn their languages as best he could,  
partially in order to accommodate them, partially to  
know when they were talking about him behind his  
back and what they were saying, not that he could  
do much about it if they were. A parts man, often  
not knowing what the part that was ordered, was for.  
Never knowing if that part might have some adverse  
effect on his body or worse.

One time, a part was ordered that contained a very  
highly penetrable radio-active substance, necessary  
in order to make it work. Ian was exposed, shortly  
taken ill and sent to one of the company infirmaries  
for medical assistance. Fortunately for Ian, the  
Corellian medical higher ups discovered a cure for  
radio-active poisoning. Unfortunately… a device  
had to be surgically implanted in his neck to absorb  
the poison from his system, one white blood cell at  
a time. The device was very uncomfortable, it got  
in the way when he did certain things, made  
certain body movements very difficult and/or  
painful. It was bad enough that he had to ask  
his supervisor to excuse him from performing tasks  
that involved those particular body movements.  
The officials at the Corellian Ship Yards were not  
happy with Ian during that time. Ian felt sick for  
about one year before the device was said to  
have, "completed" its task, by the infirmary doctors.  
Then, the device had to be surgically removed. Ian  
felt sick for about another year after the device was  
removed but was expected to resume performing  
his normal duties at that time with all disregard for  
his illness and pain. When he brought it to the  
attention of his doctors, they couldn't explain Ian's  
so called reaction. Years later, after Ian learned  
more about radio-activity he believed that his  
body still contained some of the radio-active poison.  
The device removed enough to make the poison  
non-fatal but his body was expected to eliminate  
the rest. Ian believed that if he weren't a Nether,  
the device would have been placed so that it  
wasn't so uncomfortable and left in longer to  
absorb more of the radio-active poison. The device  
cost capital while in use. In other words, it was  
expensive and as on most planets, doctors were  
well paid.

The entire planet was dedicated to building space  
ships, good space ships. There were several divisions,  
large ships, passenger, private and military, medical  
frigates, fighter ships, military transports, large and  
small, space stations and the more often common  
ships that people bought for personnel use, Speeders  
that resembled cars. There was no such thing as a  
used Speeder lot. Speeders were either scrapped or  
sold under the table by their owner. Who also had  
to hope that the buyer wouldn't turn him in. All ships  
baring the name Corellia, were expensive too. Of  
course they all bore the same **Corellian** brand name.  
They built some of the fastest, most advanced and  
largest ships in space or for that matter, in the  
galaxy. They even had a division dedicated to building  
custom ships, if they weren't too expensive. Their  
motto was " _No questions asked_ " In other words,  
they would ask you what you wanted built but  
they never asked why. A card shark by the  
name of **Lando Calrissian** came to the Corellian's  
for a custom Space-Race ship but it was even too  
difficult for the greatest of Corellian Designers to  
build, although they tried. Lando was particular, he  
wanted good deflector shields, powerful weapons,  
Hyper Drive capability and some secret compartments  
that allowed him to hide freight in case he needed  
to. He would test Corellian prototypes but they were  
never to his satisfaction. Lando was educated,  
trained in combat techniques and well to do. His  
parents were precious stone dealers where he was  
from, which was the planet of **Socorro**. They left  
him a gold mine of capital. For awhile Lando went  
back into the precious stone mining business when  
the Space-race business eventually made him and his  
great ship, an afterthought. After the precious stones  
were mined and packed on automated cargo pods,  
 **Corusca** gems that were mined by **GemDiver  
Station**, were sent to Lando Calrissian's Corusca  
gem broker, who lived and did business on **Borgo  
Prime**. His broker was responsible for the actual  
selling of the gems to interested parties. Though  
his broker contract with Calrissian allowed for him  
to reap only a small percentage of the profits made  
by selling the gems, this was offset by their extreme  
value.

Another commissioning was a huge space-station  
and its design was attempted by the Corellian's but  
was never large enough or efficient enough  
to the satisfaction of its idealists/buyers. It was  
commissioned by an unknown person. That person's  
name was never discovered though it was made known  
or at least rumored, that he was from the Empire,  
never proven.

There were other ship builders in the Galaxy and  
they even built large or fast ships but none the likes  
of the Corellian's. Most of the ship builders and  
engineers or designer experts went to the infamous  
Academy, complements of the Corellian government  
and at the expense of the tax payers. Ian  
Bartholomew was too young to go to the Academy  
at first. He was given a job on Corellia as part  
of an orphan program set up through the Human  
Resources department on his home planet of  
Alderaan. They had made arrangements with  
different companies on different planets to employ  
and house orphans, or escaped slaves from slave  
colonies. Many of the orphan's were sent to  
companies on Coruscant. Ian, in spite of his family  
being killed when he was a baby, rejected the  
notion that he would be adopted by the Corellians,  
as a laborer, and not by some nice family. The  
operators of the adoption agency, **where** he  
was sent, were lazy, careless and sometimes  
quite evil. So getting out of there, under any  
circumstances was welcome.

Ian Bartholomew was different, by the time he  
was about six years old, he was known to be  
young but bright and inquisitive. He seemed to  
understand what was being told to him, even  
if it was very scientific in explanation and of course,  
sometimes he didn't understand. But most  
of the time, based on what he had learned  
up to that point, he understood what was asked  
of him and most of the time and could be counted  
on to bring the correct part or parts.

His superiors were often harsh if he brought the  
wrong part. Some of the designers and engineers  
were all too eager to report his failures, they had  
no concept of "Tattle-tails" or loyalty and no concept  
of caring for the youth of any species. He lived with  
one of the Corellian engineers, made management  
and a government official, in his older years by the  
government of Corellia. On Corellia the _government  
was management_. ( **Toliman Prel-fee)** was kind  
to Ian and defended Ian when he could. There  
were times when Ian, in his older days, unknown  
to himself, found himself in violation of some  
government rule or law. He would be taken in  
by the Corellian authorities to a holding facility and  
most of the time, Toliman was called. The  
authorities office was modern and pristine. The  
holding facility was remanded to one of the original  
buildings built by the originators of the world wide  
plant. Once Ian was even processed through the  
penal system and almost hauled away to prison  
where Toliman would probably never see Ian again.  
Toliman was again, older, was married, very Corellian  
but not the usual, shared his home openly. Toliman  
would dash into the authorities office and demand,  
insistently as a government official, that Ian be  
released. Sometimes there was an argument, to  
which Toliman would, in all his brilliants, easily defend  
Ian against prosecution and sometimes there wasn't  
an argument, Ian was just let go.

For instants, one time Ian was hauled in based on  
parts that he had in his vehicle that were picked up  
on an authority vehicle sensor. The parts were ordered  
by the engineers, who loved getting Nethers in trouble  
just for a laugh and who knew that the parts were listed  
as "Top-Secret." That Ian, at his own expense, would  
surely come up on someone's sensors and be hauled in.

When Ian was still somewhat younger, he was unable  
to obtain a "Top-Secret" clearance and just didn't know  
any better. Toliman would often argue that particular  
point based on the fact that he knew, based on what  
he'd learned when he worked as an engineer, what  
their tricks were. Toliman had occasion to have  
participated in the joke from time to time himself in  
earlier years. There were lots of species from other  
planets working there, many of which had homes  
there. But you could only be a government official  
and have lavish accommodations on the whole, if  
you were Corellian born and had been to the  
Academy, as per their law. But if you were an  
Academy educated Corellian you could pretty  
much get what you wanted, within reason. The  
government or management, was very communist  
in nature but treated Corellian born graduates quite  
well. They decided what you were going to be once  
you reached adulthood and where you would live and  
work, even if you were born there. If a person took in  
an orphan from another planet, orphans were known  
as Nethers, the person taking them in would most  
likely be subjected to the treatment of orphans and  
have to deal with the emotions that came with it.  
Nethers were frowned upon by many and often  
picked on or treated badly. Considered low-lives by  
most, Nethers were, when older, assigned less  
than accommodating or comfortable housing if  
allowed to stay on Corellia at all. Toliman was forced  
by the government to take Ian in but Toliman  
actually had an affinity for _**Nethers**_ **.** He, unlike  
most Corellian's, felt sorry for them. He often  
wondered what it must be like for someone with  
no family. Just to have someone to be close to,  
a mother and father.

He took Ian in gladly, Ian was only nine months  
old and a charming child, when Toliman and his  
wife **Aladfar (Alad-far)** took him in. They raised  
Ian like he was their own. When Ian was four,  
the Corellian government put him to work against  
Toliman and Aladfar's better judgment. Toliman  
quickly realized Ian's ability to learn and began  
teaching him, at a very young age, about ship  
design. Toliman was impressed with Ian's  
obvious advanced intelligence and dexterous  
abilities. Ian put electronic or mechanical things  
together that normally required many  
years of training. At five, Ian was able to  
solder components together, at will, to become  
part of one of Toliman's designs, often even when  
Toliman wasn't sure himself. Toliman continued to  
teach Ian as long as he continued to show interest  
in what was being taught. Toliman and Aladfar  
grew to love Ian so much that they eventually  
adopted him into their family, much to the reproach  
of the Corellian government. Adoption from the  
government, which was allowed if you were a  
government official, into a private family was  
difficult and cost a lot of capital but they believed  
he was worth it.

Aladfar, Toliman's wife, died from a disease known  
as Merga when she was Fifty, **Merga** was basically  
fluid around the heart. On Corellia it was considered  
a cancer. And as one might imagine, on Corellia  
there were plenty of cancer types to go around.  
There were few, if any safety regulations to prevent  
inhalation of a lot of the dust types that were  
released into the air as a result of mass production.  
Infection was rampant and did often turn into cancer.  
There was no knowledge of infections or infection  
control on Corellia. People were just thought to be  
"taken ill." Toliman was deeply in love with Aladfar  
and her death was the beginning of his down-fall.

When Ian was fifteen, Toliman, on his sick bed,  
had to pull his Nether aside and explained that he,  
Ian, would need to find a more profound job,  
something that paid a higher wage in order for the  
two of them to survive. Toliman was too old to take  
care of Ian anymore. Corellian's lived a little longer  
than Humans. Toliman was Seventy-Four. Toliman  
was considered to be a great engineer and designer.  
He taught Ian everything he knew even though  
teaching Nethers anything was strictly forbidden.  
Nethers were allowed to learn by osmosis, which Ian  
did a lot but not allowed to be trained by anyone.  
Toliman even taught Ian how to read, write and speak  
Corellian. That in and of itself was punishable by life  
in prison so it was all kept very hush-hush by this  
family and others who knew.

Toliman had many friends, friends he could count on,  
friends that were impressed by and liked Ian as much  
as they liked Toliman. Ian learned from Aladfar to be  
kind, even when people didn't deserve it. Ian would  
go from one ship community on Corellia to another  
once he was old enough to pilot a transport. Often,  
requests for parts came from facilities up in space.  
Having his own ship as opposed to using the  
elevators and public transportation, made  
traveling a distance on the surface easier but he  
continued to do the same low-life sort of jobs.

The transport he flew was akin to a Caravan type  
vehicle and not very well maintained when the  
government assigned it to him. Ian was able to  
update the transport himself, at his own expense  
mind you, with his vast knowledge of almost any  
type of vehicle but kept the ship looking  
un-maintained for the purpose of maintaining a  
certain appearance. All too often, the nicer  
transports were taken from Nethers and given  
to less knowledgeable Corellian born distributors.  
Eventually the harassment and chiding would  
stop as Ian became one of the only Currier's or  
parts gofers that could be counted on. Often  
other parts gofers would have to ask Ian to  
clarify what was on the requisition. The  
Corellian children were sent to schools to  
learn to read, write and then, what they were  
good at was further taught as an enhanced  
subject, at the request of the government.  
And if they weren't good at much, they still  
ended up working for the Corellian ship  
manufacturers and worked as parts distributors  
and messengers like Ian but got better treatment  
and were given better equipment to use to do their  
jobs and they got better accommodations to live in.  
Often, the Nethers would get older accommodations  
or if accommodations had to be built, they were  
cinder-block, not well supported, cold in the winter  
and hot in the summer. The Corellian government,  
as was usual with communist run agencies, ran the  
planet with an iron fist. They usually didn't have a  
problem but none-the-less didn't like dissidents.  
Dissidents were usually found out and hauled off  
to prison or a place of captivity and were often not  
heard from again. Sometimes people, in spite of  
their emphatic and proof lead, honest denial of  
such things, were still labeled as dissidents and  
hauled off, never to be seen again. The leadership  
of the Corellian government seemed, as is often  
the case, paranoid. The supreme leader, a dictator  
by the name of **Carth Dettun** was a typical ruler  
in this kind of government and once more held  
on to the position for security, lavish  
accommodations and to have a position of public  
admonishment. And even if people didn't really like  
him. Carth new of Ian (Dr. Bartholomew) but acted  
if he didn't. Carth tried not to show partiality to Ian  
but everyone noticed. There was never retaliation  
for such a thing for fear of retribution. Ian, on  
occasion, got special treatment in spite of the fact  
that he was a Nether. Special treatment by Carth,  
secretly of course when Ian produced something  
or effected something that made the Corellian  
government a lot of Capital. Toliman was always  
appreciative because even he didn't get that kind  
of treatment. Carth had children of his own and  
would try to get them to spend time with Ian in  
hopes to gain a better reputation. Toliman would  
have none of it. But Ian and Toliman were so  
greatly appreciated that Carth would often just  
look the other way. No telling what made officials  
of the planet decide

that someone was against the government. Other  
planets around Corellia and the galaxy, knew this  
and were either run similarly in nature and in  
governmental style or they just accepted this type of  
governing and ignored it.

There were a few citizens of Corellia or other planets,  
that investigated such behavior and tried to rebel but  
were often quelled or convicted as spies, imprisoned  
or were forced to become mercenaries or bounty  
hunters hiding their identities behind a literal mask.  
Like Jango Fett for instance. A lot of the mercenary  
or bounty hunter types were good people at one time  
as was Jango Fett. He was brought up by his parents  
as an upstanding individual, always doing what was  
right. Jango was strong, coordinated and bright. But  
doing what was right got him in trouble one time, so  
he had to hide. Hiding from governments made the  
bounty hunter types more aggressive or evil because  
they would often have to resort to many types of  
behavior, regardless of the cost, to evade those who  
were looking for them. Jango Fett was very bitter at  
being torn from his family, especially when he knew he  
would most likely never see them again. As a bounty  
hunter, he could make enough capital to stay alive.

Many of the newer ship builders who were just  
out of the Academy, treated Ian pretty badly at first  
but quickly began to realize that Ian was no slouch.  
They would see other engineers reaction to him,  
the engineers that had been there for awhile. Ian was  
very good at what he did and he seemed to learn or  
understand even quicker in his older years, gaining  
much respect by his peers. Toliman, in spite of his  
advanced age, still often came to Ian's defense in  
certain situations. Toliman was Ninety when he died.  
He should have lived longer but there was no vaccination  
against _Cerofl (Cero-full),_ a disease of the skin. A  
Vaccine would have prevented the illness but the  
Corellian medical community was not very good at  
creating vaccinations and were really just not aware  
of what a vaccination was or they often did not recognize  
the need. The government, especially Carth, took  
Toliman's death hard. It meant that one of their  
advanced ship designers was gone and caused  
an anticipated loss in Corellian capital. Upon  
Toliman's death and in spite of his praise of Ian,  
the government determined that Ian was too old  
to be taken in by another Corellian family and was  
given one week to get off the planet. The Corellian  
government, being somewhat jaded and corrupt,  
expected to be able to bring Ian in on charges that  
he'd outstayed his one week just to spite Toliman's  
death. They ended up amazed at the brilliant way  
he put all his affairs in order and left the planet in  
only two days. Ian left the planet un-detected.  
Ian's fellow parts distributors were also hampered  
by Ian's absents. Productivity was never the same.

Ian, Twenty-two by then, used his brilliant research  
abilities to find a home on one of the moons of a planet  
near Corellia called _**Devaron,**_ a forest moon called  
 **Base V** with few inhabitants. The Corellian government  
eventually discovered where Ian was but couldn't do  
anything about it, bound by interstellar laws. They  
secretly wished they hadn't dismissed him.

Devaron's **Base V** moon's only proof of another  
existence at one time, was an ancient and abandoned  
Jedy Temple. The Devaron moon had breathable air  
but was extremely thick with forest like vegetation.  
Very tropical in nature which forced its inhabitants  
to build homes that were, tropic resistant as the moist  
atmosphere would creep in and destroy much of the  
living arrangements and mechanical equipment,  
transports and such.

Most of the inhabitants were political outcasts from  
other planets and unable to find employment on their  
home planets because of their political affiliations.  
Some, more often than not, were in hiding and were  
well hid. The rest of the inhabitants were just planetary  
outcasts because of their apparent unruliness or  
lack of interest in what was going on around them.  
A family by the name of **Stalrif (Stall-Riff)** took Ian  
in with the understanding that he would attend the  
Academy as soon as he could get accepted. They became  
most encouraged and aware of Ian's abilities when he  
quickly fixed the family transport, actually making it  
better than when they purchased it.

The Stalrif's were originally from the planet of  
Dantooine. Dantooine had the potential to be a civilized  
planet but its government, also run by greedy politicians,  
imposed on them, a very serious set of rules and laws  
that made everyone angry. The Dantooine government  
also seemed to think the Empire was what was best for  
the ruling system there. One of their rules was, that  
if a family had a child, the first born was to stay with the  
family growing up as a normal child but the second born  
was to become the property of the government, raised by  
the family but to government standards. The second born  
child would eventually be indoctrinated into the military at  
a surprisingly young age and rumor was that if the child  
didn't have what the government needed, the child would  
still be entered into the military but be sent to the front  
lines with a short life expectancy, to be sacrificed,  
apparently for the good of the planet.

The Stalrif's actively opposed the government's laws,  
rules and choice to let the Empire in. They were, at  
that point, informed by a secret rebel agency, that  
the government had sanctioned them for removal  
of the worse kind. The family was able to leave with  
the assistance of the secret Rebel force. The Stalrif's  
eventually returned once they had heard that the  
government was reduced to much like a third world  
planet by outside rebel infiltration. The Devaron moon  
was once, many hundreds of years ago, occupied by  
an organization of the Jedy knights and was a  
headquarters or an outpost for the Jedy to be closer  
to a Sith held planet. The Jedy force was rumored to  
have had some success against the Sith presents  
keeping many of the Sith in that space sector to  
a minimal population.

The best of the Jedy, trained by a younger Yodi,  
would attack Sith positions on nearby planets. The  
Jedy, at one time, actually procured ships from Corellia.  
The Jedy were pretty well trained but the Sith  
had their own ships and often fought well against  
the Jedy. he Jedy were trained in how to use the  
Force but not as well trained in fighting and combat  
techniques. As a result, the Sith eventually out  
fought the Jedy. The Temple was also rumored to  
have been the starting point of the current Galactic  
Republic.

The Temple was eventually found by the Sith. It was  
attacked on several occasions and it eventually fell to  
the Sith who captured, brutally tortured and killed most  
of the Jedy stationed there. The Sith had no need of it  
when it was finally overtaken and it was eventually  
abandoned by both the Jedy and the Sith. Teel, father  
and husband, grew up on the planet of Dantooine and  
was raised by hunters, which at the time, were fairly  
common on that planet. The hunters were violent,  
aggressive people and Teel became hardened by his  
hunter family. Of course Teel's family decided that he  
needed to be "educated" rather than grow up a hunter  
as his father, mother, brothers and sisters, grandparents,  
aunts and uncles had, so that he might one day advance  
to a more civilized way of life. Teel, as a young man,  
was against this but was eventually sent to take exams.

On the way to Coruscant, his path was detoured by the  
Trade Federation which was a prominent evil force in  
the Galaxy at that time. Instead of going to the Academy,  
Teel ended up fighting with a resistance, a Resistance  
that found him and spared him from certain life in prison  
in a trade Federation prison camp. When that resistance  
was brought down. Teel escaped. Eventually another group  
of separatists against the Trade Federation, took him in,  
which hardened him even more. When the separatist  
group decided to join the Trade Federation rather than  
battle it, Teel and a few others left, Teel returning to his  
home on Dantooine.

His family had become old and unable to hunt for  
themselves so Teel took up the challenge providing for  
them in their time of need. While he was there, for  
enjoyment, he would attend a bar of sorts complete  
with dancing girls. He became well known at the bar  
as a great fist fighter and not to be messed with,  
which was just fine with him, he really didn't want  
to be bothered. Of course when one acquires a  
reputation for such a thing there are always those  
who had come and challenge him.

Eventually one of the dancing girls became his wife  
Aladfar. Aladfar had a well rounded up bringing which  
surprised Teel, but whose parents were also killed  
when she was younger. She danced only to support  
herself, not to offer herself for capital like some of the  
other dancing girls, desperate or not. When Teel was  
married but not very long, the Dantooine government,  
now composed of an entirely new regime of personnel,  
began implementing their own extraneous laws and  
rules which were even worse than before. They acquired  
the government per a coup that cleansed the government  
of do-gooders. Teel rebelled and you know the rest of the  
story.

Teel and his wife, who was pregnant with their first, were  
once again threatened by the new government. The first  
time the government attacked, Teel was able to fend them  
off. But he knew they would be back in force, so he took his  
family and left. Teel being somewhat of a seclusionist, didn't  
have a means of transport and had to find one. He  
attempted to use common commercialized services at first  
but they repeatedly told him they could not allow him and  
his wife on board. They said it was because she was pregnant  
but he knew that was bullshit. He knew it was because of the  
government, so he began to look for other ways off the planet.  
Unfortunately, the only ones that would take him asked a  
high price and were less than trustworthy. He was forced to  
enter places where his life would surely be in danger. He  
ended up killing a few people in such facilities where he  
earned himself a warrant for murder and ended up hunted  
by bounty hunters. He had become quite good with a blaster,  
before finally earning the respect of an older man by the  
name of **Dodge Kilvaari**. Dodge wasn't always old and  
wasn't always alone.

Dodge was one of Yodi's trainee's, eventually made a Jedy  
master, having trained some of the Jedy himself. He married  
a fellow female Jedy named Bree Tull. She and Dodge were  
often in competition of a good natured sort, and eventually  
became interested in each other. She was a blue Twi'lek,  
who were occasionally referred to as Rylothians. She, like  
Dodge, was a tall humanoid species whose most striking  
feature was a pair of long tentacles protruding from  
her skull. She hailed from the planet of Ryloth, in the  
Outer Rim Territories. Bree, like many other Twi'lek  
females, was destined to become a slave. At a very  
young age, she was known to have the ability to  
manipulate the Force and was sent, by her parents, to  
train as a Jedy, rather than have their daughter hauled  
off as a slave. Dodge had his own story. In his younger  
years he was cocky and foolish. He would go into, other  
than moral establishments and pick fights using his power  
over the Force to win. He was tough too. The Jedy council  
would often have to go in and pull him out.

Humility was taught, even to Dodge, who also trained  
others in Humility regardless of the fact that he lacked  
that which he taught. He later would benefit from his bar  
fights being that he had, one night, picked a fight in  
an establishment where Sith were hanging out. The  
Sith pulled Light Sabers of the double ended type and  
answered his challenge. Dodge was surprised and  
figured he was in trouble. He drew his own Light Saber  
and fought against the four Sith. He had to use every  
ounce of training that he'd been taught by Yodi, to  
stay alive. He was doing well but was still in over his  
head and he knew it. Fortunately, the Jedy council  
was alerted and arrived just in time to keep Dodge from  
getting killed. They let the Sith go in an attempt to find  
where they were staked out. Unfortunately, the few Jedy  
encountered a Sith guard and had to turn and run as  
they were out-numbered. One of their ships was  
destroyed by the Sith. The pilot would have died but  
used to Force to protect himself in space until one of  
his fellow Jedy picked him up.

Yodi was told, upon their return, about the Sith. Yodi went  
back with the Jedy to their last location. The Sith guard  
was ready and waiting but they didn't know that Yodi was  
one of the Jedy they would encounter. The Sith got beat,  
badly. The Sith location was exploited. The Jedy returned  
in force and cleaned up. Again, with Yodi in command. Teel  
really didn't trust Dodge either but the price was right and  
time was growing short. Teel was able to pay even though  
it took every last ounce of capital he had. The old man knew  
how relentless the government and others could be and would  
have probably taken them even if they didn't have any capital.  
Dodge knew of a place where Teel and his family could go if  
they needed to hide. The old man had an old ship, it looked  
barely space worthy but that's how Teel ended up on Base V,  
the moon of Deveron. Teel had hoped the old man could help  
him further but the man was gone before Teel could ask him,  
the Stalrif's were on their own.

 **2\. The Academy**

The Academy was on Coruscant, everyone who was anyone,  
went to the Academy when they were old enough and then  
of course, taking the exams was also dependent on their  
obvious potential or skills. There were those who couldn't get  
in or those who just didn't want to but because of the Empires  
involvement in so many of the planetary issues, those that  
didn't want to go to the Academy were often unable to find  
adequate employment and suffered often from starvation and  
lack of living arrangements.

There were entrance exams at the Academy and one was  
required to pass them although no standards were ever  
disseminated. No one knew exactly what would be on the  
tests. The exams were given in most languages and were  
very difficult. One could pass the exams at different levels.

The ones who scored low but high enough to pass were  
taught a trade. Laser welding, metal working, laboring  
for different entities, mechanics of sorts if the mechanics  
wasn't too complex. Freighter ship handlers, freight  
handlers at other locations, cement handlers,  
space garbage handlers, etc.

Those who passed at an average level were trained as  
technicians in any number of fields such as, Lab  
assistants, Capital processors, dispatchers, computer  
operators, higher level mechanics, etc. Those who passed  
pretty well were trained as teachers, law enforcement,  
military, military officers, all by Old Republic Standards  
or by the individual planets standards. And those who  
passed with high honors were trained as Doctors,  
Engineer/Designers of sorts or Jedy if the Force was  
with them, governmental officials and managers for  
many civilizations, or ship pilots, either fighter ships or  
pilots of large Corellian freighter vessels.

The Academy offered a grand selection of learning  
options that students could choose from if they didn't  
have a specialty. They could learn, to teach and all  
according to their planets standards, lots of engineering  
types, lots of different pilot training and all based  
on what type of ship they wanted to pilot. The Academy  
had all sorts of Medical training all the way from Janitors  
to Doctors. They had the quintessential business  
management courses, art, if you could make a living at  
it, biology, psychology and the list goes on.

Ian took the exams for entrance into the Academy and  
passed in an average class but excelled in ship design,  
electronics, droid design and computers. Occasionally the  
heads of the Academy would poll the governments of other  
planets to extend more capital when someone from that  
planet maybe scored average on the exam but scored high  
in specific areas. Those people would be placed in fields  
that were appropriate to their talents. Ian would be trained  
in ship design and engineering, electronics, droid design and  
computers. He would eventually be sent back to Corellia  
upon graduating, as a Dr. of his multiple fields, for them.

In his first year at the Academy he attended classes but  
was easily corrupted by those who thought their time at  
the Academy was best spent partying. He would get drunk,  
get into fights, lose often and find himself in the Dean's  
office defending himself, often when he often wasn't at  
fault. Ian almost flunked out of his first year. While at  
home with his temporary family on Base V for a break  
between grade levels, his father figure, **Teel Stalrif**  
sat him down and explained the finer points of taking  
the Academy seriously and also that if he wasn't going  
to honor his agreement with the Stalrif's about the  
Academy, that he would have to find another place to  
live. Ian was no fool, he listened to Teel and took his  
advice to heart. Upon returning to the Academy in his  
second year, his old friends, many of different species,  
tried to encourage him to waste precious time partying  
the year away as usual. When Ian refused, they  
ostracized him. He tried to explain his reasoning but they  
wouldn't listen. "Who cares?". Over time, many of his  
so-called old friends would see him and tease him.  
Sometimes to the point of physical violence where he  
was again, often on the losing end. Ian made it through  
his second year in spite of the opposition by his old  
friends and his grades improved immensely. The  
leadership at the Academy was very impressed and  
reinstated all of his privileges as well as a few others,  
free meals, lower tuition and such. They looked forward  
to his returning for his third year.

He became the focus of many's attention. They had even  
thought of grooming him for leadership at the Academy  
until they later discovered that his true love was for that  
which he excelled at, not education. Ian returned his third  
year, was put on the student council and publicly recognized  
for his accomplishments and designs in many of his science  
classes. He found himself competing against some guy by  
the name of **Raymus Antilles**. Not well known at the  
time but a great student and pilot in training.

Ian had designed newer ships and droids. Introducing  
the possibility of idiosyncratic behavior, an advancement  
to the computer brains of droids. This, of course, forced the  
development of better droid designs including the design  
of the first Astromech type droid. The Astromech droid was  
in design only at that point, too expensive for the Academy  
to build in mass. The idea or design was purchased by the  
Techno Union planet which added a lot of capital to the  
Academy's bottom line to which they were very pleased.  
This didn't hurt Ian's position with the Academy either.

The Techno Union, somewhat dated in their own design,  
were great at building droids and built many of the droids  
used by other species in space. The Techno Union built a  
few prototype Astromech droids, arrayed in white and  
blue. One of the prototype Astromech droids was given to  
Ian to experiment on. He, in the name of experimentation,  
incorporated his idiosyncratic behavior system. The droid  
communicated in beeps, strange noises and blips. It was  
given a nomenclature but not a name. It's nomenclature  
was R2D2T. Ian had to design a computer program that  
would read and translate the droid language. As much as  
Ian tried, he could never get the droid to speak the Human  
language. This puzzled Ian, it was as if the droid rejected  
the language programming itself.

The droid disappeared one day. Ian never found it. It  
apparently accessed a ship and flew somewhere in space,  
it was never known where. Ian eventually wrote several  
textbooks that the Academy adopted as part of their study  
program for electronics, ship, computer and droid design.  
Some of the textbooks are still being used by the Academy  
today. He wrote a book telling of his time at Corellia as a  
"parts distribution technician". That particular book gained  
popularity because of his famous name but was not very  
good and eventually lost peoples interest and lost popularity  
by word of mouth.

One of his fellow students, a rather large _Noghri_ by the  
name of **Silus Nidor** took an interest in Ian when he,  
Silus, was having difficulty passing a computer class  
based on droid memories. Being that droid memories  
was one of Ian's specialties, Ian helped Silus get caught  
up to the point where Silus could finally finish on his own.

Silus, being a warrior from Tatooine, began his training  
as a fighter, wrestling younger Dune Lizards. Almost eaten  
several times but rescued by his father, Silus, who seemed  
to be hiding his ferocity at the times, came out of his shell  
when he and some friends thought it would be fun to visit  
the planet of **Honoghr (Hone-ogg)**. Upon entering an  
imbibing facility there, two of his friends were shot and  
killed by a **Caster** from **Bixa-Loca** , a planet in the  
outer-rim. A cowboy by the name of **Sessel Bane** , a  
drunken bounty hunter. Silus was so angry that he  
disarmed and killed Sessel Bane with his bare hands.  
He then mopped up the entire facility before one of his  
friends had to stop him and bring to his attention  
the fact that there was no one left to fight with. He  
was shocked but came into his own at that time.  
Despite his quiet, dedicated and somewhat ferocious  
demeanor, Silus, with great appreciation for Ian's  
assistance, befriended Ian. So the first time Ian's  
friends, turned enemies, began harassing him and  
Silus saw them, the harassing ended. It ended because  
Silus thrashed the group of five of them with hardly any  
problem. One of them was even a notorious  
 **Klatooinian** power-wrestler by the name of  
 **Draco Toral**.

Silus and Ian often had very scientific conversations  
but Ian would often lace his conversation with humor.  
Noghrian's generally lacked any sense of humor. Ian  
grew tired of this and bravely stood up to Silus  
demanding that he loosen up a little. Silus was  
impressed with Ian's bravery and a little embarrassed  
at the comment.

Later, Ian recanted his chiding of Silus' lack of humor,  
stating that his attempt at humor was more  
embarrassing than anything else. Silus went  
back to being his overly serious self and was not  
offended but rather relieved. Ian and Silus made it  
to their fourth year at the Academy together. Silus  
graduated as a fighter pilot for the Noghrian space  
fighter squad. Ian, at the encouragement of the  
Academy, went on to further his studies. Ian and  
Silus would stay friends forever but over the years  
Ian was only able to visit Silus a couple of times. Until...

Ian went on to five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,  
and even eleven years at the Academy. He finally  
graduated a doctor of Electronics, computers, droids,  
droid electronics, droid programming, ship engineering  
and design. He was again pulled into the world company  
of the Corellian's but this time with open arms at the  
begging of Carth Denton. He was given one of the nicer  
accommodations that they had and was put at one of  
the highest positions of government and management.  
He relished his position in government and won the  
appreciation of much of the population of Corellia for  
championing the "Better Housing" act. In fact, because  
of his high position as a government official, the food got  
better too. Ian was so proud. He vowed never to build a  
bad ship even if it were for less than savory characters.  
Which would later prove to be a less than ideal vow. He  
designed the space race ship that the Corellian's had been  
trying to build for Lando Calrissian for years. It was given  
the name The Milleninim Falcony by its owner who went  
on to be one of the most famous space racers ever. Ian  
excelled on Corellia, he built amazing ships, some small,  
some huge, all idiot proof, some aerodynamic, some not.  
The Imperialists on Naboo commissioned a fleet of very  
aerodynamic fighters and several ships for the Queen.  
Very stylish, very fast, very powerful, very well armed  
and very technologically advanced.

The Trade Federation hated Naboo and secretly instigated  
civil war between the Naboo and the Gungans who  
shared the planet. The Naboo didn't want civil war but  
the Gungans fell for it hook line and sinker. Despite the  
Naboo requests for peace, the Gungans, an unrealistic  
species, insisted that they had been humiliated by the  
Naboo. The Trade Federation exploited this and was able  
to glean much of the beautiful resources from Naboo as  
part of their trade propaganda. The Gungans blamed the  
Naboo for generating such a great loss of resources from  
the planet and wanted the planet Renamed. They wanted  
to call it, "Plub" for which the Naboo vehemently protested.  
The Trade Federation used much of the capital from Naboo  
to order a fleet of large trader ships from Correllia, all of  
which Ian designed with Naboo resources included. Some  
of his designs were built right there at the Corellian yards,  
some never left paper. The Corellian government urged  
that not even a design on paper would be given out  
without payment. The Empire ordered a space station the  
likes of which no one had ever seen. It was not built  
because the Empire didn't have the capital at the time  
but Ian designed it and the Empire took the design,  
promising to pay. That's when the Empire discovered  
Dr. Ian Bartholomew. They wanted him but they would  
have to implement other parts of their system before they  
could get him. The Empire would have to implement its  
own government complete with personnel before they  
could do much of anything. The Empire would be slowly  
and methodically built by a brilliant, dangerous and well  
known Sith by the name of Darth Plagueisies. The  
Empire was a small form of government, no one had really  
heard of them. Or at least the Empire had not become a  
household name yet. Darth Plagueisies had ordered some  
 **Core Ships** designed and built at the Corellian yards but  
they were not as effective as he had hoped. He ordered them  
from the Corellians and recruited some humans from a nearby  
human populated planet but the human species was young,  
under educated, substandard and so was their culture. On  
one occasion Darth Plagueisies ordered his small fleet to  
test the ships ability to attack other simulated ships. He  
used some junk that he got from Corellia and set it adrift  
in space. He set up a mock scenario, trained the human  
contingent (who were under the power of Darth Plagueisies  
and his ability to use the Dark Side) to act in a simulated  
attack. The Core-ships weapons were limited, not very  
powerful. The human contingent, just not capable of what  
was considered a well-trained emergency reaction. They  
attacked the space junk, they missed everything, couldn't  
get target locks on anything even when it was just floating  
or stationary, and when they finally did, the junk that  
they locked on was still somewhat operational, actuated  
a defense computer program, armed what weapons it had  
and destroyed one of the Core Ships. There was no way to  
control the space junk so they had to run. Several of the  
Core Ships were damaged by the time the human  
contingent was able to get the ships moving and away  
from the dangerous junk. Darth Plagueisies, knowing that  
the dangerous junk was still active, would have to react  
the next time his fleet was in range, to orchestrate the  
junks destruction before they settled in the area. Shields  
up, weapons locked on, they did finally destroy it but it  
managed to all but bring the lead ships shields down to  
about 5% before they destroyed it. Darth Plagueisies  
decided he had to find more competent humans that he  
could manipulate and he had to order better ships from  
the Corellians. The Core Ships were still incorporated  
into the Imperial fleet. Better, newer, ships were needed.  
And he still owed the Corellian's for the last fleet he  
ordered. His capital was depleted from the first order.  
What to do?

Members of the Trade Federation came to him looking for  
something to Trade. That was when Darth Plagueisies  
realized that they really didn't care who they worked  
with as long as there was a promise of Trade somewhere.  
 **Nute Gunray** was not one of the sharpest leaders Darth  
Plagueisies had run into. As a matter of fact the  
 **Neimoidians** as a whole were really kind of wimpy  
and stupid. It's a wonder how they became so powerful  
as the Trade Federations main specie. The Trade Federation  
didn't actually have any of their own fighter ships. They  
would hire out for those types of defenses when needed.  
Their large ships have a complement of weapons but are  
often not used. The Neimoidians seem to believe that their  
ships, containing a lot of valuable Trade objects had become  
ships that no one wanted to destroy. To destroy Trade  
Federation ships was to destroy something valuable inside.  
That theory would eventually prove wrong.

Darth Plagueisies didn't have to use the Dark Side to  
convince them to join the Empire. In fact he didn't  
even have to make them a part of the Empire. He  
promised them Heavy Trade from the Empire based on  
the success of the Empire. So they loaned him all the  
capital he needed. Darth Plagueisies went back to the  
Corellian's and ordered better ships. This time Ian built  
them Star Destroyers. The Trade Federation loaned Darth  
Plagueisies lots of Capital so he ordered lots of Star Destroyers  
and one by one they were brought to Coruscant as a show  
of power even though people were told differently by Imperial  
members but it worked. Before designing and building them,  
Ian would travel to the far reaches of the Galaxy to find  
superior weapons, technology, engines and shields to equip  
them with, he never built inferior ships. Upon request, he  
also designed a great fighter ship for the Empire called the  
Tie Fighter and Several Shuttles that looked like Swans that  
were also well armed and all at the expense of the Trade  
Federation.

Darth Plagueisies found out about a race of Human's near the  
edge of the Galaxy that were said to be more competent and  
more technologically advanced. A planet called **Rishi**. He  
headed there but the leaders of that human race were less  
than cooperative and had to have their hand forced  
a little. His original Human force wasn't too capable but  
they were none-the-less tough and could be made to be  
aggressive if necessary. The Human race on Rishi was  
threatened and after some aggressive negotiations,  
convinced to join the Empire.

Other Sith joined the operation and assisted in the  
assimilation. **Darth Athala, Darth Obdris** and about  
sixteen others. All with the ability to manipulate the  
Dark Side and all with an overwhelming desire to construct  
a New Sith Presents in the Galaxy and destroy the  
Jedy in the process. On a whim Ian also designed other  
ships some of which were purchased by the Empire and  
some that just sat on display at the Corellian ship yards  
for the avid onlooker, sort of like a car sales lot. One of  
the ships he designed he called the Corvette which  
was loaded with all the latest technology and well  
armed.

It came with eight great engines that made it a  
force to be reckoned with in speed anyway. The  
Corvettes were later all purchased by someone of  
unknown name and origin. The powers that be in  
the Empire asked the Corellians for the purchasers  
name but the Corellians were reluctant to answer  
at that time. Ian designed what he called a Blockade  
Runner.

Similar to the Corvette, but even more well armed.  
The Blockade runners were all, also purchased by an  
unknown source to which the Empire was not yet privy.  
"No questions asked." Ian was asked by the Corellian  
government to design more advanced fighter ships.  
They were well designed and deadly to all that were  
brave enough to attack them.

The Corellian's remained neutral for a time. News  
got around that the Trade Federation, a source that  
many used to feed and supply their own, was teaming  
up with the Empire. The Empire was growing but still  
not a popular force. The Empire insisted that the Trade  
Federation not trade with local planets unless  
they were willing to replace their governmental  
systems with the Empire. This alerted the Jedy. At  
first the Trade Federation still traded with certain  
planets but eventually all trade with any planet that  
wasn't part of the Empire had ceased. Governments  
of many of the planets began to worry.

The Jedy were selfless, they were the peace keepers  
of the galaxy but did not force anyone to take them  
on as government leaders. Yodi, lead the Jedy and  
trained many of them. The Empire was also turned  
down by many planet government systems. The  
Empire Star Destroyer force was huge and it was  
time for them to make an example of all who would  
defy them. All of the Core ships and several of the  
new Star Destroyers surrounded a planet called  
 **Yag'Dhul**. A planet that vehemently rejected the  
Empire. News reached many over the next couple of  
days, that the Empire, along with several Trade  
Federation ships, had surrounded the planet and  
made threats. Several of the Jedy were dispatched  
with their own versions of fighter and command  
ships that were not designed by the Corellians  
or Ian Bartholomew. The Jedy ships were formidable  
but no match for the immense size and ability of the  
Imperial ships. The Jedy were too far away to be  
effective. It was made clear that the Yag'Dhulian's  
rejected all of the Empires requests to be their  
government. So the order was finally issued by  
Darth Plagueisies himself. " _Reduce the planet to  
ashes._"

Upon that order, the Core-ships and the Star-  
Destroyers began firing, from space on the defenseless  
planet. In a matter of moments, the entire planet  
was reduced to a moon like state with no  
atmosphere. No resident life, no vegetation, no  
vestige of any existence on the planet. Yodi and  
other Jedy sensed this. Several more planets were  
targeted and destroyed before the Jedy could make  
a stand. The Imperial ships moved quickly and  
covertly as not to alert anyone to their presents or  
where-abouts. The Star-destroyers were most effective.  
Sometimes the Core-ships were involved but the  
Star Destroyers were really all the Empire needed.  
The weapons of the Star Destroyers were powerful.  
The Jedy finally caught up. They engaged the large  
ships but the Imperial Star Destroyers were too  
large and their shields too powerful for the small  
fighter ships to have any effect. Tie fighters were  
dispatched from the Imperial ships and the Jedy  
did make easy prey of them. The Empire decided  
not to lose anymore of the small fighting force  
and simply moved on. The Jedy did not pursue.

The Jedy convened a meeting of the Jedy council  
on the planet of Coruscant. Coruscant, the entire  
planet, one big city. They reserved a small hall in one  
of the buildings there on Coruscant. Yodi was at the  
head of the meeting along with several Jedy that had  
eventually also become heads of the council.

Yodi called the meeting to order. " _Order I, the first of  
business. Recommend I that, on Coruscant, a temple  
we __should build._ "

The vote to establish a temple on Coruscant was  
unanimous. The Government of Coruscant was asked  
and the Jedy request was quickly approved. It was approved  
because the Empire was establishing its own presents  
on Coruscant. Coruscant was at the center of the Galaxy  
and the hub of most initial activity for the galaxy. Before  
long the government of Coruscant itself was told by the  
Empire that it should make the Empire its government  
system. And of course, the request was denied. And of  
course, many of the Imperial Star Destroyers were soon  
surrounding the planet. The Jedy presents were nowhere  
near great enough to ward off the Empire. None-the-less,  
the Jedy manned their ships and set out to protect the  
planet. Yodi was the leader of the defense force and in  
touch with many of the Jedy leaders.

" _How to defend Coruscant, I do not know how. But  
defend it we must._" Said Yodi.

It was clear from several other encounters with the  
Empire that the Jedy would be no match. Suddenly out  
of nowhere, several other large ships appeared dropping  
out of Light Speed. At first no-one knew what to make  
of them. But as the Empire began to line its ships up for  
the onslaught, the new ships on the scene began to fire  
on them. Much to the pleasure of the Jedy, the Imperial  
force was quickly broken up and evasive maneuvers had  
to be taken by them. Soon space around Coruscant had  
become a war zone which wasn't the first time and  
wouldn't be the last. One of the Star Destroyers was  
honed in on and destroyed. The Empire had to turn tail  
and run. The next time the Empire surrounded a planet,  
there would be more resistance. They would be ready.  
In the mean time one of the leaders of the other ships  
hailed Yodi.

" _Commander Yodi._ " The radio squawks in Yodi's  
command ship.

" _Commander Yodi here, to whom is this I speak_?"

" _Bail Organa at your service sir._ " The voice  
commands.

" _Know who you are, I do._ " Says Yodi.

" _The new leader of the Republic Galactic Congress._ "  
He replies.

" _Remember you now, I do. Just in time, you came.  
Owe you our lives we do._" Says Yodi.

" _Perhaps you'd heard about a ghost ship attacking  
the Empire._" The voice comes back.

" _Not recently, we have not._ " Replies Yodi.

" _No, the Empire managed to score a few hits on  
her. She's in for repairs right now."_ Says the Senator.

" _Some effect have you had, a rebel force you are._ "  
Acknowledges Yodi.

" _The Rebel Alliance to be exact._ " He replies.

" _A location have you?_ " Yodi asks.

" _Not at this time great leader._ " The voice acknowledges.

" _Then a place for you to settle, we must find. Meet,  
can we, to discuss this_?" Yodi asks.

" _If it pleases the great leader of the Jedy, we  
will join forces. We should meet on the __planet  
surface._" Says Bail.

" _On the planet surface, we will meet._ " Says Yodi.

 **3\. Dr. Ian Bartholomew**

Dr. Ian Bartholomew, now the most prominent ship  
and electrical engineer, ship designer, droid programmer  
and general space scientist on the planet of Corellia.  
Aware of the news but still un-aware that his ships were  
being used by the Empire to cause such destruction. In  
denial about the Empires use of his ships and ship  
designs.

" _What's this?.. I recognize these._ " Ian asks of one of his  
government official friends on Corellia as he picks up  
dusty blueprints all rolled up in a pile of other defunct  
blueprints. His friend glances at them.

" _Plans for a Space Station?_ " Replies the official. " _Scrubbed._ "  
He replies further.

Ian looks at the plans, he peruses them. His friend,  
the official is doing something else.

" _I remember these, I can improve on them._ " Ian blurts.

The official looks over as Ian continues to peruse the  
plans. " _It was scrubbed._ _There's no need now._ "

" _But I can…_ " Ian stops mid sentence realizing that  
his friend was right.

He rolls them back up and tosses them aside " _What  
a shame, the one who __thought of_ _this was very  
ambitious and inspired._"

His friend is reading something and turns his attention  
to Ian. " _Have you paid much attention to the news lately?_ "

Ian is looking at other things, focused on what he's  
looking at and really doesn't react to the question  
directly. " _No, not lately._ "

His friend reads a little more, and then comments. " _This…  
_ _Empire,_ _they are all over the news lately. Apparently  
_ _they believe they are_ _what should be the new government  
_ _around the galaxy._ "

Ian still isn't paying much attention. " _Yes, I've heard of them  
_ _in passing but I'm too busy building and designing ships to  
_ _worry_ _too much about that._ "

His friend tosses the paper aside, " _Suppose you're right._ "

Ian looks up. " _Nothing in this room worth looking at,  
suppose we move on?_"

" _Oh, good show Dr. good show._ " Ian's friend replies, glad  
that Ian has decided to leave that room, his friend was  
board.

They leave the room, shut off the light and the door  
slides closed automatically. In the corridor of the  
building, small droids and other automated devices roam  
around. The place is abuzz with activity. A modern office  
complex on a work day. Everyone there has a job  
somewhere in that building. Many recognize Ian and his  
official friend as prominent people there. Celebrities of a  
sort. Most of it goes unnoticed by Ian and the official.  
They walk down the corridor chatting as if nothing were  
wrong. But among all the buzz, the Empire is planting its  
seeds of corruption. In some obscure part of the building  
Imperial officials make plans to take over Corellia. In a  
meeting hall on Coruscant in the new Jedy temple, Yodi  
and Bail, among other officials, sit around a table chatting.  
Yodi finally brings the group to order.

" _Confidential this is._ " Says Yodi.

" _I believe we are among friends here._ " Says the  
Senator.

" _Very well Senator, a place, we have possibly  
found, for you to set up operations, for __Your  
Alliance.  
_  
" _Wonderful, where?_ " Asks the Senator.

Yodi looks around, he takes note of everyone in the  
room. " _A moon… Yavin, in_ _this system._ " Says Yodi.

" _Yavin, I've heard of it. Yavin one?_ Asks the Senator.

" _Yavin four, I believe._ " Says Yodi.

" _Yavin four, I guess I didn't know there was more  
than two moons there._" Wonders the Senator.

" _Nine moons has Yavin._ " Says Yodi.

" _Nine, I know less about that system than  
I thought._"

" _No one, this system knows of, either._ " Says Yodi.

" _If, don't know of it,_ _you do not, then, do not, others  
know either. Hope I._" Says Yodi.

" _I hope not either, but you are right master Yodi, if  
I have not heard of it, then __it is probably a good  
place to settle._" Says the Senator.

" _This Empire, very aggressive they have become._ " Says  
Yodi.

" _Yes, insisting that people make them government,  
forcing people even._" Another official says.

The meeting goes on and it is finally decided that  
the Empire is more than Evil and should be stopped.

" _Who is leading them?_ " One official asks.

They all look at each other but no one answers.

Yodi perks up. " _Find this out,_  
 _we must. Then, better their intentions, can we  
determine_."

" _Agreed._ " Blurts Bail. " _Who do we task with  
finding this out?_"

No one speaks up at first, then one of the Jedy, a man  
by the name of Count Dooku perks up.

" _Commander Yodi, I and my team could begin  
this __investigation._

We may need more people at some point.

"

" _When necessary, more you shall have._ " Replies Yodi.  
" _Begin immediately,_ _this investigation you must_."

Count Dooku stands up and leaves the table. As  
he's leaving the room… " _I will_ _assemble my team  
and we will plan accordingly commander Yodi._"

Yodi waves him on. The meeting continues. " _A fleet  
of ships have they, great __they are._ " Says Yodi.

" _Yes, they have a Corellian appearance to them._ "  
An official adds.

" _Yes, I'm sure these are Corellian made ships._ " Another  
official says.

" _Then we must ask the Corellian's to stop building for  
the Empire._" Says Bail.

" _Ask this, we cannot._ " Comments Yodi.

" _Why not?_ " Asks Bail.

" _Their problem, it is not. Stop, they would not anyway._ "  
Answers Yodi.

The meeting goes on, more issues on that particular  
subject are discussed. Count Dooku and his team arrive  
on the planet of Corellia. He and several members  
of his team disembark and are met by Corellian officials.  
The Corellian officials act as though they are willing to  
assist in any way possible but Yodi was right, the Corellian  
government was good at putting on an heir of cooperation  
but have no real intention of doing so. As Dooku's team  
leaves, a group of officials from Corellia cordially see them  
off. Count Dooku is skeptical and reports to Yodi. Yodi, tells  
him that it was the first place to inquire and their reaction  
was indeed suspect. Dooku and his team leave Corellia and  
travel back to Coruscant. But this time they bypass the  
Jedy temple and arrive at the place where the Empire is  
placing their ships as a display of power, the Coruscant  
ship yards. Dooku's team attempt to go aboard one of  
the ships that is being retrofitted with something, it is  
unclear what and security is very high. They are unable  
to gain access without a warrant from the Judicial Branch  
of the Republic. Even after repeated attempts, they are  
refused access.

" _What are you trying to hide?_ " Dooku asks one of the guards.

" _I'm not authorized to say sir. And quite frankly, I don't know._ "  
The Imperial answers.

Dooku maintains calm. He thinks, "Probably safer that way."  
Dooku leads his team away a gain. On board their Corvette,  
Dooku asks of the team to return to their offices and continue  
the investigation retrieving data about the Empire over the  
computer, at least for the day. He assures them that the next  
day there will be more to look into. That night, Count Dooku,  
being the ever persistent Jedy, covertly arrives back at the  
Coruscant ship yards with his own ship. He is careful not to  
arouse any of the guards and uses his Jedy powers of  
persuasion (the Jedy mind trick) to divert the attention of  
the guards long enough for him to gain access. Dooku enters  
the one of the grounded Star Destroyers.

In the mean time Yodi calls throughout space for more  
Jedy assistance. He calls a meeting of the present Jedy  
force and the Jedy that are far off, join by hologram. The  
fact that the Empire has forcefully incorporated the  
assistance of another race of Human's is of great concern  
among all of them. Preparations for an eminent attack  
by the Empire, on other planets is believed to be planned.  
It is assumed that another planet where the entire  
indigenous specie is Human, has them wondering. It is  
decided that **Concord Dawn** would be the next logical  
choice being that it is the most concealed of all the  
Human controlled planets.

One of the younger, newer Alliance soldiers asks one of  
the older soldiers about the Jedy.

" _Who are they? Are they from a different planet, and  
where are their weapons_?" Asks the young soldier.

" _No, Jedy come from many races and planets around  
the galaxy. They follow some __ancient religion they call  
The Force. And they do carry weapons, see that long  
mechanism __hanging at their sides?_ "

" _Yes, I just figured that was some field equipment, part  
of their __issued equipment._ "

" _Well, that is what is known as a Light Saber. When  
actuated, a beam of light emits from __the device and  
becomes a weapon like a sword. A weapon like no  
other. That's all they carry._"

" _Can anyone be a Jedy, can anyone get a Light Saber?_ "

" _Well, I've never seen someone who wasn't a Jedy carrying  
one. I guess it happens from __time to time but only a Jedy  
can really wheel one. They use their religion to assist  
them. __Jedy are people who have supposedly been  
chosen by the Force and are given powers of __strength  
and control, much greater than that of ordinary men.  
No, just a chosen few become __Jedy._ " The older  
soldier says.

" _They dress funny._ " The younger soldier notes.

" _Look carefully, the clothes they wear are simple. The  
Jedy stand out because of their __selflessness. They, like  
most venerable men, have no need of lavish things. They  
live only __for the resistance of evil and defend those who  
can't defend themselves._"

" _They seem to keep to themselves. Pretty sure of  
themselves aren't they?_"

" _Actually, if you were to talk to one, which I have, you  
would find them quite __pleasant and conversational. They  
just don't indulge in simple conversation. They __don't really  
talk about things that don't matter. They would talk to  
anyone, you should __some time. Just ask them about  
themselves, tell them about things that bother you, __they're  
quite insightful._" The older soldier says.

" _So they're just… born with all this power, they don't need  
any training?_"

" _As far as I understand, they usually don't know they have  
the power until someone __of the Force brings it to their attention.  
As I understand, they must be trained from a __very young age  
and training lasts most of their young lives. As far as I know,  
training __never really ends. At some point they receive the title  
of Jedy Knight but I don't really __understand all that._ " Says the  
older soldier.

" _But they're powerful… un-killable?_ "

" _Not un-killable, many Jedy have died in the service of the  
Force but yes… powerful __none-the-less. No ordinary man  
could kill one._"

They are looking at Kiber Storm who sits looking out the  
window of the vessel he is traveling in.

A detachment of Jedy and Rebel forces is sent to Concord  
Dawn to stake out one of the planets but after several days  
no attack comes. On or about the forth day, news carries  
a story of how the planet **Etti IV** has been attacked which  
is near Concord Dawn. The majority of its male contingent  
has been taken, rounded up like cattle, men separated from  
boys. Many resist and are brought down by some sort of  
incapacitating pulse. When fired from the strange rifle, one  
can see the pulse as it erupts from the rifle. A clear pulse  
and yet it foils the air, growing larger as it passes quickly from  
weapon to escaping specie. It makes no noise when it hits  
someone and it seems to take out more than one at a time  
rendering them unconscious for a time. Hundreds of pulses  
can be seen when we look down into a valley where the  
indigenous are being rounded up. Some of the male  
specie are able to jump Imperial soldiers who are  
unprepared for the resistance. The males understand  
that this is permanent and wrong. The indigenous kill  
rather than just incapacitate, some of the Imperial soldiers  
lay dead. Others punish those who would set against the  
Empire but the fallen Imperial soldiers are ignored, left  
by their fellow compatriots where they lay. Who took  
the men, and where? The Empire claims it knows nothing  
about this attack but the Jedy know better. Analysis of the  
Empire by advanced computers indicates that the Empire  
has increased in personnel by a large percentage. The  
Jedy can only assume this is because of the males that  
have been kidnapped and assimilated. During one  
of Yodi's meetings with the Jedy leadership, word  
of Dooku's disappearance is discussed. He hasn't been  
seen for weeks. Yodi sends another detachment of  
investigators, to include some of the Rebels, to the  
planet of Etti IV to see if any information of value  
can be gotten about the count. Upon inquiring of  
many of the female contingent of the planet, none  
are able or maybe un-willing to divulge any information  
on the loss of the men or Count Dooku. The  
investigators are simply given the same story, _most  
of the men just disappeared_. One of the Jedy officials  
takes this as a sign to speak to one of the few  
remaining men on Etti IV. They are also unable  
or unwilling to shed any light on the matter. Upon  
further analysis, it is discovered that only married  
men are taken. The men left behind did not have  
relationships or families. Other than that, no  
other information had been retrieved. Yodi on  
Coruscant, tries himself to gain access to one  
of the Imperial ships located on the planet.  
He uses one of his often used military ships to  
travel to different locations but cannot board  
without proper authorization. Finally the Judicial  
branch of the planet is polled and based on the  
reputation of the Jedy for being correct more times  
than not about certain hunches, a warrant is  
authorized. By the time the warrant is issued, the  
Imperial ships are gone. Upon trying to find out  
why and where they have gone, Yodi is met by a  
dead end. When he reports back to the judicial  
organization that issued the warrant, Yodi is  
suddenly met with resistance on the matter. In  
fact, all knowledge of the warrant is denied and  
Yodi is told by the judicial group that he is no  
longer aloud to intervene in this matter and that  
any and all investigative teams dispatched by  
the Jedy Council are to be recalled and all  
investigations into the Empire are to cease  
and desist. A secret meeting of the Jedy High  
council is brought about. The Judicial branch  
of Coruscant is not aware of its convening.

" _What did you find out about the Empire  
master Yodi?_" One of the Jedy masters asks.

" _Nothing._ "

Another Jedy master speaks up. " _The Judicial branch of  
Coruscant issued the original __warrant did they not  
master?_"

" _They did._ "

" _Did you report any findings to them?_ " Asks another Jedy  
master.

" _I did not._ "

" _Then we are to assume that you were unable to do so  
master?_" Asks another Jedy master on Holo.

Yodi turns his attention to the Holo. " _Correct you are._ "

Several of the Jedy High Council murmur among each  
other.

" _Master Yodi,_ _would it be presumptuous of us to ask why?_ "  
Asks the first Jedy master.

" _It would not._ " He continues on. " _My determination it is,  
that from the Empire, __the judicial officials, gotten to, they  
have been. By the Dark side the judicial officials __here on  
Coruscant, are they controlled. Through the Force,  
controlling them, __someone is._ "

" _By the Dark Side. There is only one faction that knows  
how to control the Dark Side._" A Jedy master presumes.

" _Not a Jedy but, involved are Sith I believe._ " Sums Yodi.

More murmuring.

Yodi continues. " _Assume we must, a Sith the Judicial branch  
is controlled by. At this __Juncture, into our own hands, this  
matter must be taken._"

" _It has been a long time since the Jedy have taken matters  
into their own hands._" A Jedy master states. "A _re we really  
doing the right thing?_"

" _Believe it is time, do I._ " Says Yodi.

" _If you believe it to be so master, then I suggest we all  
concur._"

All agree, Yodi is set to lead the charge.

The first thing Yodi suggests is that several planets be  
staked out. Yodi and certain officials stay behind to  
coordinate the effort. And as the Jedy are persistent  
and wise, they determine that an attack on another  
planet near **Concord Dawn** would be too obvious.  
A stake out of planets in remote locations on the  
other side of the galaxy is planned.

This time, they are correct. In fact, one planet called  
 **Sedratis** is already under attack when a detachment  
of Jedy and Rebel forces arrives. The indigenous males  
are being kidnapped by the Empire as forced labor. More  
Jedy and Rebel forces are called. The force that is  
already there wastes no time, they attack immediately.  
For awhile, space around the planet is a war zone.  
Imperial Star Destroyers cruise through space firing  
on Alliance and Separatist ships. Streaks of light energy  
pass through space from one ship to another. Green  
pulses from the Jedy. Sedratis ships and the Rebels,  
red light pulses from the Empire. Rebel ships pass  
near the Star Destroyers firing as they go in sea battle  
|fashion as though only there were only cannons between  
them. A few Jedy and rebel forces descend to the  
planet's surface to quell that attack there. The Imperial  
force has them out numbered. The few Jedy that are  
there are themselves a powerful force. As soon as they  
are in the open air, their light sabers ignite and they begin  
deflecting shots or swinging at the Imperial soldiers and  
Imperial Droids with precision thrusts. The Jedy cut through  
Imperial troops leaving a swath of bodies behind each of  
them like a combine cutting through corn. Unfortunately  
the Sith are not far off, two are in space and begin to attack  
back at the Jedy and Rebel forces there. The Jedy have their  
own fighter ships and use the force to hone in on the  
Imperial Tie fighters, destroying them in droves. When  
the Sith come in with their strange fighter ship  
configurations, the Jedy are always surprised at their  
accuracy.

The Jedy aren't the only ones able to use the Force to assist  
them and even in space. It would seem that the Tie Fighters  
have no deflector shields or if they do, they are not a result  
of modern technology. The Tie fighters explode the minute  
an Alliance ship or Jedy fires on it. The Star Destroyers  
however, take damages but the damage is small. Their  
deflector shields are fantastic and even the larger  
Alliance ships don't have much effect.

 **4\. Stronger Yet**

Each time the Alliance again faces Imperial Star Destroyers in  
another battle, they become more and more difficult to damage.  
Their weapons seem stronger and their deflector shields seem  
more advanced. One would wonder why the technology has  
not moved to the Tie Fighters, unless the Tie Fighters are a  
front for something more powerful, no one really knows. The  
Jedy didn't have to concentrate as much on the Force when  
up against the Imperial Tie Fighters but when the Sith come  
in, it's every man for himself. The Jedy are well trained in their  
space fighter abilities and soon gain the upper hand again. The  
Sith, as good as they are, are still out gunned, out manned and  
out maneuvered when facing Alliance and Jedy forces in space.  
A few of the Alliance fighters suffer fatal blows but even they  
know enough to fall into formation against the Sith. The Jedy  
fighters take over and soon have the Sith fighters on the run.

Before long the Jedy use the Force to maneuver behind the Sith.  
They lock on target and begin to fire, the Sith have no choice but  
to turn hard to avoid being destroyed. Their shields are good but  
will weaken if pounded enough which the Jedy do. Where one  
Jedy loses a lock on a Sith target another is right there to take  
over. And if a Sith gets a radar lock, the Alliance ships are right  
there to throw them off. Before long, additional Rebel forces  
show up complete with Jedy. They make it all most impossible  
for the Imperial's to gain any control, the Empire is soon  
overwhelmed.

More Sith on the surface also jump in. Now the few Jedy that  
seemed to be taking the fight to the Empire are busy with their  
own battles. The tables begin to turn, the Empire is beginning  
to win back ground. Eventually more Jedy and rebel forces  
would be able to join the fight. In the midst of the ground  
battles, the Jedy are in the middle using every ounce of the  
Force that they can muster to sense laser bolts or Sith Light  
Saber attacks coming their way so that they can block them  
with their Light Sabers and yet at the same time, they have  
to fend off physical attacks by Imperial Soldiers or Imperial  
Droids, the Imperial Droids are wicked in a fight. When a Sith  
comes, the Jedy, a force to be reckoned with, has to break  
off any of the simpler battles and devote most or all their  
attention to the Sith.

Jedy and Rebel forces staking out other planets are busy as well  
with fights in space or on the surface of those planets in different  
areas and are unable to pull away to offer assistance at the  
moment. Now the amount of Imperial Forces on the surface  
along with the Sith outnumber the good forces ten to one. The  
Empire sustains heavy damage but the Jedy even with their  
additional efforts, are beginning to fall. Sith and Imperial forces  
continue to fall but the combined forces against the Jedy and  
the Rebels are taking their toll. The Jedy are eventually beaten  
and the Rebel forces are killed off. Some of the indigenous  
species tried to assist the good guys but were eventually  
beaten as well not being prepared for such a conflict. The Star  
Destroyers, though not impenetrable, are quite powerful. They  
have light speed capability, they are heavily weaponised and in  
particular their shields are much better than anyone has seen.  
Yodi notices that it has been a long time since a Star Destroyer  
has itself been destroyed. The Star Destroyers sustain damage,  
sometimes they even become immobilized but their shields  
remain operational and their weapons continue to fire. Their  
weapons, never as a single entity, but when fired with other  
weapons of the same caliber, seem to have a destructive force  
unlike any that the Rebels or Jedy ever seen. Different and  
with a power that the Rebels would like to have in their  
arsenal, the Alliance ships have powerful weapons but their  
shields don't seem as powerful. Their weapons, no more  
effective when combined as they are alone. All with Light  
Speed capability but not nearly as maneuverable as the Star  
Destroyers when not at Light Speed. The Large Alliance ships  
are still more easily destroyed, the Rebels seem to lose at  
least one during every battle. The difference… the Star  
Destroyers are, indeed all Corellian designed and built.  
Though some of the Alliance ships are also, they don't  
seem to encompass the same technologies that the  
newer Star Destroyers do, and it's well known that  
the Empire is always looking for something better.

When the other battles are won, Yodi and others arrive in that  
sector, the outcome looks grim. Pieces of ships linger in space,  
some Imperial, some rebel. A few Rebel and Imperial ships had  
run off rather than face a possible fate. No sign that any of the  
Imperial Star Destroyers have themselves been destroyed. The  
planets in the system are heavily scarred and a majority of the  
indigenous males from the planets in that sector have been  
taken. Though this time, not all of the Married males were taken  
because the Empire disappeared with what they had before more  
Jedy and Rebel forces could fend them off. When Yodi arrives at  
the surface of one of the planets, he is shocked to see all the  
Jedy that were present, dead from laser blasts or light saber  
wounds. Most of the Rebel soldiers dead along with a lot of the  
indigenous persons. They see some dead Sith but much less  
than the Jedy.

Several of the High Council come to the planet's surface and  
surround Yodi who is observing. " _Too late we are. A great  
loss this battle was._"

" _Yes master Yodi, the Empire has planned well and were  
higher in number. It seems that the __other small battles  
were diversions._" Another Jedy master says.

Yodi stops. " _Needed, more Jedy are, train more, we must._ "

A leader of the Rebel forces speaks up with a newly  
determined attitude. " _This will not detour_ _the Rebel Alliance.  
We will continue to fight alongside the Jedy as long as it takes_."

" _Good this is but more Rebels I fear we will need._ " Yodi adds.

" _Then we'll simply have to step up recruitment of more planets._ "  
Says the Rebel Leader.

" _Prepared to do this are you?_ " Yodi asks.

" _We will… increase our efforts master Yodi._ " Replies the leader.

" _Then hope there is._ " Says Yodi.

One of the other Jedy masters also speaks up with renewed  
vigor and adds to the conversation. " _There are many more  
species that have the ability to manipulate Force in the galaxy,  
we will __find them, and train them. The Sith will not gain a  
foothold again master Yodi._"

Yodi bows his head acknowledging his appreciation.

 **5\. Infiltration**

As time goes on, it becomes apparent that the Empire seems  
to have infiltrated the Senate Republic. They seem to be  
everywhere, their weaponry has increased and their fleet  
seems to have increased. Even more Star Destroyers, it  
seems, have been added to the Imperial fleet and more  
planets have fallen to them. The Jedy don't seem to be  
able to track them down.

Finally more Jedy join the Alliance from around the  
galaxy and there are still more, that have remained where  
they were but send word and could be called into action on  
short notice. More planets and planetary systems have  
also secretly joined the Rebellion. The Rebel Alliance is  
growing. The investigation into where the Empire will  
strike next is on-going. A Jedy by the name of **Sifo-  
Dyas** assists Yodi in investigating and planning. Sifo-  
Dyas has his own idea about adding to the Rebel  
Alliance and has proposed it to Yodi. The Kamino's have  
gained a reputation for cloning, Yodi rejects the idea  
immediately. But Sifo-Dyas, a bit of a rebel himself,  
often goes around Yodi to get things done. Which,  
up until recently, hadn't been a problem. Sifo-Dyas  
disappears, Yodi knows that he has gone on a rampage  
of sorts and recommends to the Jedy council that he be  
removed from the council temporarily until they can  
re-educate him. Sifo-Dyas goes to the planet **Mandalore**  
to see about hiring some of the well known warriors there.  
A bounty-hunter by the name of Jango Fett, in a bar on  
Mandalore sits discussing something with another species  
that also looks like a mercenary. Sifo-Dyas gets closer and  
overhears them talking about a job Jango was doing for  
the Hutt's. He was commissioned to kill a man on the  
planet of **Takodana** by the name of **Maz Kanata**. Sifo-  
Dyas had heard of Maz Kanata and though he wasn't the  
most popular guy in the system,he was still a living being.  
Jango had to be stopped, Sifo followed Jango to the planet  
of Takodana. When Jango exited his ship, Sifo was waiting  
for him and jumps out surprising him. Jango, startled,  
draws his weapon but then holsters it seeing that it is a  
Jedy.

" _I cannot let you kill this man._ " Says Sifo.

Jango, behind his helmet in his low, menacing calculating  
tone replies, " _I've no quandary with you_ _Jedy, stay out of  
my way and you won't get hurt._"

Sifo continues to get in his way even though Jango attempts  
to go around him. " _As a Jedy and a_ _protector of this galaxy,  
I must insist that you cease and desist all bounty hunter  
activity_.

" _Why, the Jedy have never interfered before. Why is this  
matter any different?_" Asks Jango.

" _Because the Jedy haven't been privy to bounty-hunter  
action in the past._"

" _That doesn't make any sense. I'm sure the Jedy could  
find us if they wanted to. Stand aside __Jedy or I'll destroy  
you._"

Sifo pulls his Light Saber, Jango doesn't wait, he draws his  
weapon and fires immediately. Sifo, being the well trained  
Jedy that he is, uses his Light Saber to deflect the shot back  
at Jango. Jango dives, rolls and fires again and again, Sifo  
continues to defect the shots. A battle ensues between the  
two men. It comes to hand to hand combat. Jango is no  
slouch, he can fist fight with the best. The two men use  
forms of self-defense on each other. Sifo eventually  
outmaneuvers Jango, wins and takes Jango who is knocked  
out, back to the Jedy ship and secures him for the trip back  
to Coruscant. In hopes, secretly that he can sway Jango to  
help the Jedy and recruit some of the warriors from  
Mandalore to assist the effort. Yodi would surely consider  
a different tactic but Sifo, as is often the case, is on his own.  
As Sifo is traveling through space, he gets an idea and turns  
his ship. Yodi has several of the Jedy masters in a meeting of  
the Jedy council. They discuss plans to catch the Empire in the  
act of kidnapping but the Empire outnumbers them greatly in  
personnel and ships now, so planning must be precise. The  
Empire must be caught and exposed to the public for their  
actions. First to stop them from acquiring more unwilling  
persons and second, to make known to the rest of the galaxy,  
what they're doing and prepare if nothing else.

News travels fast, the Empire has somehow established  
itself as the good guys in some realms. The galaxy is in  
shambles because of the Empire, taking the Empire on as  
government is what is best for the planets of each system,  
so they say. The Jedy know better but now many of the  
systems and planets in the galaxy support the Empire be-it  
because of fear or because they truly believe that the Empire  
is going to fix everything. The Sith want to invade and  
dominate everything, that's their way. Yodi knows this better  
than anyone. In a distant system, currently, Sith had gotten  
together to pro-create hoping to add to their numbers, Darth  
Plagueisies is the one who instantiated this. The first Sith  
child to be born was named by Darth Plagueisies himself  
and became Darth Sidiously. The Sith are fairly well  
organized when it comes to their own. The parents of Darth  
Sidiously gladly leave him in the hands of Darth Plagueisies.  
Darth Plagueisies quickly becomes the father but quickly  
realizes that he needs someone to mother the child until  
it is old enough to function on its own. Sith women are no  
good as mothers so he goes back to one of the planets where  
they kidnapped the male inhabitants and has his minion's  
line up many of the women from that planet. Plagueisies  
interviews the women but none seem to really fit the roll.  
He finally lands on a woman by the name of Shmee, she  
is different, most of the women reject the idea of rearing a  
child that is not their own and are of the Sith species.  
Shmee seems to be open to the idea even though she  
thinks Plagueisies and the rest of the Empire are evil. Her X-  
husband resisted the Empires attempt to take him as  
forced labor and was killed. This happened before he and  
Shmee could have children of their own. Shmee decided that  
rearing someone else's child was better than nothing even  
if the child was Sith and child rearing was something she  
wanted desperately. She agreed on the premise that one…  
she would be able to teach the child as he grew. Plagueisies,  
being the deviate monster that he was, agreed knowing that  
in truth, he would be teaching the child Sith ways. And two,  
that he and Shmee be married. Now as part of the Sith  
creed, when two Sith married it was for life and a Sith  
man could never kill off his wife, and vice versa. Who knows  
why?

Darth Plagueisies married Shmee but had no intention  
of honoring the marriage. He treated Shmee badly, he  
beat her often even while she was in constant care of the  
child. And he beat her in front of the child so that the child  
would grow up learning this behavior. But Shmee was  
relentless, despite her beatings she continued to hound  
Darth Plagueisies about how the child was being reared  
and taught. She did not want that child being taught the  
Sith way. Darth Plagueisies would train the child one way  
and Shmee would come along and teach the child the  
opposite or that the Sith way was wrong. Eventually  
Darth Plagueisies decided that Shmee had to go. Darth  
Plagueisies was as evil as they came but he was a stickler  
for the few traditions that accompanied the Sith. The Creed  
was the creed, because they were married, and even though  
he really didn't honor the marriage, and in spite of the fact  
that she was Human, they were legally married. He decided,  
even though she was human, that he could not just kill her  
off. The child became older and was much attached to his  
mother despite Darth Plagueisies' teaching. Darth Plagueisies  
took Shmee to a slave colony on Tatooine not realizing that  
the child had become very attached to his mother even  
though she was not Sith. Shmee treated him well and  
Darth Sidiously appreciated it. Darth Plagueisies gave her  
away to a slave owner there. Often the slave owners had  
to pay for a slave but Shmee was free for the taking and a  
slave owner would be ever so glad to get a slave for free  
knowing that they could take a complete profit from the  
sale of such a commodity. **Darth Sidiously** was too young  
to understand why his mother was sent away but as he  
grew, it became apparent to him, despite what his father  
told him, that his mother would in fact probably never return.  
One day, Darth Sidiously asked his father, Darth Plagueisies,  
about his mother. Plagueisies told his son the truth thinking  
that the child was old enough to understand and would  
appreciate his father's position on the matter. Besides, Sith  
children didn't normally become attached to their mothers.  
Of course their mother's weren't human mothers like Shmee.  
Darth Plagueisies trained his son well so far, Darth Sidiously  
had indeed become devious. But he was still fraught with  
grief and anger by the news of his mother's demise but also  
knows… he is too young and untrained to do anything about  
it now. Sifo-Dyas is headed for Camino with his query in tow.  
He arrives on Camino and is astonished at the great torrent  
that engulfs the entire planet. How could anyone survive  
here? The constant darkness, wind, rain, and crashing  
waves of the endless ocean. The Kamino's really didn't  
know the difference, one planet was the same as  
another to them. Sifo-Dyas is met by a Camino by the name  
of **Char-Poof**. (Father of the later Jedy master, **Yarial** Poof).  
He pulls Jango, who was conscious now, from the ship but he  
is still well bound. Sifo asked Char if they could clone a large  
army from this one man, Char assures Sifo that it had to be  
Jango's decision. Sifo had assumed that they, the Jedy, would  
offer Jango a large sum of capital if he would agree to be  
cloned. Sifo also decided that Jango would need a place  
to stay assuming he would be a marked man now. Char  
then asks Sifo how many people they want cloned.

" _How many can you give me?_ " Asks Sifo.

" _As many as you wish._ " Replies Char.

Sifo thinks a moment, " _Would six-hundred thousand be  
too many._"

" _No but there is a matter of… payment._ " Says Char.

" _Per man I suppose?_ " Sifo inquires.

" _100,000.00 in capital to be exact._ " Char replies.

" _Per man?_ " Asks Sifo in shock.

" _Per man._ " Char confirms. " _We will… of course offer  
a discount of sorts for so many_."

" _Then thee-hundred thousand. And I suppose you  
want payment in advance?_" Sifo asks.

" _The word of a Jedy is sufficient, you can pay upon receipt._ "  
Says Char.

Sifo gladly agrees, they shake and Sifo leaves. Jango  
watches Sifo's ship take off from his apartment window.  
Jango has other plans, Char comes to him later and  
quietly comments that all requests would come from  
the one who pays. Jango doesn't understand why he's  
been released and questions Char about it. Char  
explains what he and Sifo had decided about paying  
Jango to be cloned, Jango agrees. Jango asks if the  
process would hurt, Char assures him that a small  
scratch of his skin would be sufficient and the process  
would begin. Jango is given a place to live, his skin is  
scratched right in his new apartment which causes him  
no pain what so ever. The implement used to scratch  
him is used to extract the DNA necessary to begin the  
cloning process. Yodi finally reaches Sifo who is headed  
back to Coruscant. Yodi asks him what he's been doing,  
Sifo is about to explain to Yodi when an Imperial Star  
Destroyer, who intercepted their chatter, sneaks up and  
fires on Sifo's ship causing his ship to malfunction, the  
connection to Yodi is cut, the Empire knew exactly where  
to hit him, they tractor him in. Sifo knows he can't do  
anything against the tractor beam and ready's himself  
for battle. On board the Star Destroyer, preparations are  
especially made knowing that they've captured a Jedy.  
Sifo's ship is brought aboard, alarms sound all over the  
ship. No one dares get close to it knowing how powerful  
the Jedy can be. Even the two Sith on board the Star  
Destroyer are somewhat hesitant to approach the Jedy  
ship. Sifo has no fear and that can be seen from outside  
his ship as well as felt by the two Sith through the Dark  
Side. A ray shield is set as a trap but the Imperial's know  
that a ray shield is no guarantee that the Jedy can be  
held. The Sith enact a plan between the two of them, they  
both pull their double edged light sabers and ignite them.  
One stands aside while the other whacks at the canopy of  
the Jedy ship. Sifo uses the Force to keep the light saber  
from penetrating the canopy, he then uses the Force to  
push the Sith away, slamming him up and into a wall  
behind him. One of the Imperial generals whispers in  
the Sith's ear. The other Sith is ready and uses his power  
over the Dark Side to ward off Sifo's attack. The general  
walks back toward his troops, the troops then surround  
the Jedy ship. The other Sith is back in action and he's  
pissed, he attacks the Jedy ship again but again Sifo uses  
the Force to push the Sith away. This time that Sith is  
ready, he uses his power over the dark side to quell the  
attack from the Jedy as best he can, it's enough, the  
other Sith cuts the canopy open. The imperial army  
waits just long enough for the Sith to jump out of the  
way and all fire on the Jedy position. Sifo is able to fend  
off the attack by the Imperial Army but one of the Sith  
jumps back in and hits Sifo-Dyas with a light saber  
obliterating him completely, Jedy Master Sifo-Dyas is  
dead. Darth Plagueisies senses this from where he is  
and inadvertently broadcasts it to the Jedy. The Rebels  
intercept the message broadcast by the Empire, the  
message says, " _Supplies are not difficult to acquire  
and by the way, a Jedy __has been destroyed."_ The Jedy  
council hears this but are not convinced. Yodi enters, his  
head hung low.

" _Master Yodi_ ," says one of the Jedy masters, " _Message  
monitors, in the Rebel Alliance __have intercepted a  
message saying that master Sifo-Dyas is dead but we  
have no confirmation __of this. We…_ "

" _…True it is._ " Says Yodi.

" _What?_ " Asks another Jedy master.

" _Sensed have I, in the Force, a disturbance._ " Says Yodi.  
" _Died a Jedy has, master_ _Sifo-Dyas it must be, just  
talked to him I did, cut off we were, re-establish a  
connection __with him, I was not able._ "

" _Master Sifo-Dyas was superior with the Force, it  
seems impossible._" Another Jedy master concludes.

" _Not when, the Sith involved, they were._ " Responds Yodi.

" _Then there is a vacancy on the council._ " Says a Jedy  
master.

" _Yes, a vacancy there is._ " Says Yodi.

Yodi requests that the best of the other Jedy be brought  
up through the ranks and trained as a Jedy master.

 **6\. Sith Come Of Age**

Darth Sidiously is now thirteen, his father Darth  
Plagueisies is constantly teaching him the Sith  
way. They go hunting in places where hunting is  
forbidden and hunting for things that weren't  
supposed to be hunted, Sith make their own rules.  
They steel from other non Sith ships in space  
and commandeer the ships as pirates would.  
They kill anyone who defies them even a little.  
Darth Plagueisies and Sidiously were on an Empire  
vessel when the Empire stopped a random ship  
passing by them for an inspection. It was believed  
that the Hutt's had smugglers moving illegal items  
through that sector.

Darth Plague and Sidiously are present during the  
inspection. An illegal item is found though the  
occupants of that ship were not related to the  
Hutt's. Darth Plagueisies being the evil man that  
he was, lined up the occupants of the ship, man,  
woman and child, pulled his Light Saber, tortured  
and executed each member one at a time in front  
of the other members who began pleading for their  
lives. Darth Plagueisies was relentless, he was slow  
and cruel about it, cutting off limbs before ending a  
life. He set his Light Saber to sever a limb but not  
high enough to cauterize the wound causing blood to  
gush as he proceeded. The Imperial officers and crew  
were shocked by the act but new better than to let  
on. At first Darth Sidiously shrinks back at some of  
this bloody violence but quickly gets over it, eventually  
the young Sith would become hardened to it. Darth  
Plagueisies builds his new apprentice a double-ended  
light saber and begins to teach him to use it. At first  
the young Sith is clumsy with it. Darth Plagueisies is  
relentless, even cruel to the youngling. Learning  
from a Sith Lord is always painful and somewhat  
unforgiving. Shmee is on Tatooine and under the  
rule of a harsh Slave owner. She doesn't care,  
she only frets over the loss of the child she was  
helping Darth Plagueisies to raise.

 **7\. Macy Windy**

One of the Jedy masters, a Jedy by the name of **Fias  
Shesh** approaches Yodi and tells him about a child  
that he'd run across during one of his missions to a  
planet called **Rokanh**. They were able to study the  
human residence on the planet to determine their  
level of development for possible admittance to the  
Alliance. While doing so, a child had been born. The  
parents, though greatly revered in that particular  
tribe, had no power over the Force themselves. The  
child was great with it. A dessert planet where the  
inhabitants are very early in their development.  
The inhabitants have no language for which to  
communicate, they draw pictures and grunt. The  
child would have to be extracted without the other  
planetary members knowing it. There is also the  
matter of his parents, even though primitive in  
their development, paternal instincts are still  
strong. It would have to look as though the child  
had died. The parents would have to leave the child  
behind, abandon it. There is also a possibility of  
dangerous wild creatures indigenous to the planet  
which were largely un-studied at that time. To  
disturb them would be to disturb the natural growth  
of the indigenous species on the planet. To extract  
the child, who is very young, they would have to be  
careful not to kill any of these natural creatures in  
the process. Yodi sends a contingent of six Jedy and  
a few Rebel Soldiers to the planet to do what they  
could to extract the child. Among them are two Jedy,  
one by the name of **Merton Dulius** and the other a  
Jedy master named **Kiber Storm**. Kiber would be  
the expedition leader and would determine if there  
was a proper time to extract the child. The planet  
had to be scanned, a safe and secluded place had to  
be found to land. Once a place was found they had  
to be able to land without alerting anyone to their  
position, including those who dwell in space, like the  
Empire. So traveling through space would have to be  
kept as covert as possible. They finally find a place to  
land, basically behind a sand dune in the middle of  
a remote desert.

They disembark with supplies on their backs and hike  
toward the village where the child was last seen. The  
hike would take several days. None of the member of  
the search party complained in the least. Kiber used his  
Jedy senses to be aware if there was an animal or  
human nearby. No humans were detected during their  
travels but they past several large beasts, some  
menacing, some not so much. All the Jedy were well  
trained with the Force and able to conceal their scents,  
the scents of the other human travelers and their obvious  
presents from the animals. As days past they began to see  
vegetation or what looked like vegetation, most not known  
to them so they would steer clear if possible. They eventually  
arrived near the village where the child was purported to be.  
There was no reason for Kiber to give last minute instructions,  
they all knew their jobs and what was expected of them. What  
they weren't ready for was the tree like creatures later known  
as **Sesslyn** **,** which used their tree like camouflage to conceal  
themselves until prey was near. The one female Jedy **Aki Star**  
was closest to the beasts when they attacked. One of the tree  
like creatures, large in constitution, scooped her up. She, as  
a Jedy, was composed not to scream but the other five Jedy  
and Rebel soldiers were instantly alerted to her situation.

The beast was tall and raised her up high out of the  
reach of the other Jedy. They tried to get to her but  
the Sesslyn transferred her to lower branches and  
crushed her to death. When the beast was sure she  
was dead, it dropped her. There were several more  
Sesslyn surrounding the team and when she hit the  
ground the other Sesslyn pounced on her. Their mouths  
were where their root system would be and their seemingly  
calm nature as trees gave way to deep growls and a  
mouth full of menacing sharp teeth. They quickly made  
a meal of her tearing her apart as a lion would and pulling  
its part of the carrion away from the rest. Another Jedy  
by the name of **Drexel Tyandas** drew his light saber and  
was about to kill one of the beasts but Kiber stopped him.  
She was already dead and they could all use their Jedy  
powers to hide themselves from the other Sesslyn.  
Kiber was the leader and despite his anger, Drexel  
believed that Kiber knew best. He and Kiber quickly  
re-donned the Force and the Sesslyn were unable  
to find them. But now there was another problem, the  
villagers were alerted because of the noise. More of the  
Sesslyn came in like a den of lions and when the  
villagers approached un-aware, the Sesslyn pounced.  
This time there was lots of noise and blood. Drexel  
Tyandas was about to jump out to help the villagers  
when Kiber stopped him again.

" _But they need our help master._ " Whispered Drexel.

" _No, we cannot interfere, it is our law._ " Kiber whisper's  
back.

Some of the Sesslyn were killed or run off by the  
villagers with their crewed weaponry, and some of  
the villagers were also killed. To the great fortune  
of the Jedy, it was later determined that the parents  
of the young child were among the dead. The villagers  
rallied and began to move the dead bodies away from  
the tribal area. The young child followed the dead  
parents un-aware of what had transpired. Now  
would the rest of the village take on responsibility for  
the child or would the child be left behind. Another  
stroke of luck, the child was lost in the process of  
dragging the bodies away and overlooked by the  
villagers. The child sat near the dead parents still  
un-aware of his own loss. After several days the  
child became hungry and began pawing at  
the dead bodies of its parents and with the  
tribe back in their own little community, Kiber  
decided that it was safe to begin covertly extracting  
the child. It was true, the child was great with  
the Force, all of the Jedy could sense it. A plan  
was made to coax the child in. The child was  
picked up by the Jedy team and brought back  
to Coruscant. The child was given to a family by  
the name of Windy until he was old enough to  
begin training as a Jedy. The Windy family was  
allowed to give the child a first name so they  
called him Mace.

 **8\. Government**

Many of the planets in the Galaxy become  
disillusioned, the Empire is indeed the best way  
to operate a government. Darth Plagueisies has  
become the Emperor and his minions, his lords  
and leaders. He is only Emperor to the Empire,  
the Senate Republic is slowly turning to side with  
the Empire, some members not in agreement.  
The Trade Federation consider themselves separatist,  
autonomous between the Republic and the Empire.  
But the Empire sees it differently, eventually the  
separatists will also be assimilated into the Empire.  
Many of the younger generation use the Academy as  
an excuse to prolong being pulled into the Empire or  
set free to try to take care of themselves rather than  
become part of the Imperial labor force. Some who  
are close to retirement go with the Empire rather than  
realize their fate staying with the Republic where they  
end up with nothing for retirement because it is rumored  
that the Senate Republic may eventually be dissolved.  
For some, time is short and going with the Empire until  
retirement is an option, not a good option but an option  
none-the-less. Many of the residence of each planet  
have moved to an Imperial occupation rather than  
make a go of it on their own planet knowing that there  
really won't be much left on the planet as far as jobs  
go. What they don't realize is that the Empire really  
doesn't have a retirement plan. Those who are too  
old to work tend to be… dispensed with. The Jedy  
see what is happening but have not become influential  
enough to be able to convince people that going  
with the Empire, as difficult as it is, is wrong and  
dangerous.

A young almost human droid girl by the name of  
 **Exit** becomes secretary to one of the Imperial  
Government officials. She is eventually moved  
to a Star Destroyer with the official and ordered  
to serve him there, she is not pleased, the official  
fires her as she makes her feeling known. For a  
time she waitresses for a small restaurant on the  
planet of Basilisk. She made friends there but was  
unable to make ends meet and eventually was forced  
to go back with the Empire as was the case for many,  
the Empire made it almost impossible for anyone to  
make a go of it where they were, they convinced  
enough people to join the Empire leaving the planets  
barren. Exit worked for the Empire but she only did  
what she had to since she was secretly not an advocate.  
Ian was working hard for the Corellian's. In fact an  
unknown visitor from the Empire came and presented  
documentation for another space station similar to the  
original. Ian recognized these but they had been modified  
and enhanced since the older requests. Ian worked  
feverishly on the blueprints for the Empire. They were  
past back and forth between Ian and the representative;  
amendments and improvements were on-going. Eventually  
Ian put two and two together and realized that the Empire  
were the ones causing all of the trouble around the galaxy.  
It still really didn't affect him or the Corellians so he didn't  
pay much mind to it. One day news that the Corellian  
government was considering turning its power over to the  
Empire got Ian's attention. He really didn't care what the  
Empire was doing but he didn't want to be affiliated with  
an organization that was receiving bad press. Ian had a  
very influential position with the Corellian government  
and this concerned him and the planets reputation as  
continuing to be the foremost authority in Ship Building.  
During meetings of the high government concerning the  
Corellian business status which was almost all the  
meetings, Ian would often protest and raise his own  
concerns about the change.

His opinion was often shot down as hyperbole and his  
position was often threatened if he were to persist. In  
the mean time, he continued to work on the  
blueprints for the Imperial Space station. At first it had  
taken on much of the same design as the Trade Federation  
ships but on a much larger scale. The Imperial contacts  
between Ian and Corellia were not satisfied, the Corellian  
government did not approve of his ideas. Eventually Ian  
went with a different design which actually solved a  
multitude of problems. A spherical design which ended  
up making the station as large as a small moon. There  
were two other problems with the design, propulsion  
and defensibility. Ian found it difficult to find a system  
large enough to propel the large station. It was a space  
station, why did it have to move? But according to the  
Empire, it had to and it had to move fairly fast. Ian went  
to many of the Outer rim planets and planetary systems  
to find technology. Most of the planets he visited didn't  
seem to have what he was looking for. He began to visit  
some of the planets that weren't named on the galactic  
map. Planets that took weeks, sometimes months to get  
to. Eventually he visited a planet called **Ubbal**.

It took Ian two months and four days to reach Ubbal.  
The only reason he had gone there was that it was  
rumored to have some high tech equipment. During  
his visit to Ubbal he was able to tour some of the more  
technical facilities. But they still weren't what he was  
looking for. Some of the Engineers and designers on  
 **Ubbal** had heard rumor that there was another planet,  
not part of the galaxy, not easy to get to. It would  
take another two months to reach it. It was not on  
any map and getting there was only rumored as well.  
Ian followed the rumored coordinates and set out for  
this planet. The rumored name of the planet was  
 **Magus**.

As Ian reached the somewhat unreliable coordinates,  
the planet was where it was rumored to be. It was  
clear to Ian that he was outside the known galaxy.  
No communication into space or for that matter  
around the planet itself. The planet was larger than  
most and covered by a red haze that seemed to act  
as a barrier or force shield to outside influences.  
Ian was at a loss as to how to approach and  
without any sort of communication, not sure  
where to land or who to talk to if there was  
anyone to talk to at all. And then, did any of them  
speak his language? There was, however, a huge  
ship, it was sizable compared to the planet itself and  
it seemed to orbit the planet. It was not detected on  
any of Ian's sensors and the only reason he noticed it  
was because when it got close, it cast a shadow  
through his front window. There was no way to  
communicate with the ship. And for that matter,  
no one to communicate with. The ship was  
gargantuan, large enough, Ian thought, to house  
most of the people on the planet.

 **9\. Great Ship**

An ark maybe? It seemed devoid of viewing  
access on the outer hull until Ian was close  
enough to see millions of windows. It seemed  
devoid of any type of compartments for weapons  
and such. But Ian also knew that just because  
he couldn't see any weapons didn't mean they  
didn't exist. It did have some sort of bridge or  
cockpit but where the view window would normally  
be was completely covered no apparent way to see  
forward. The bridge was very small compared to the  
rest of the vessel. The ship had sort of an oval shape,  
rounded at the edges, an obvious front and a back.  
It did have a propulsion system though not really  
evident, it did seem to be pushed along by  
something. According to Ian's readouts, it had  
some sort of heat signature indicating propulsion  
and openings at the back of the vessel for exhaust  
venting. No apparent way to enter or exit the ship.

At great risk, he moved his ship even closer to  
the huge alien vessel though it didn't seem  
dangerous. He noticed what could have resembled a  
vent of sorts though what ship would have a vent  
into space, there was no air in space. As he got closer  
to it he realized that it was so large in size that one of  
the Star Destroyer's he designed could have fit inside  
it. Easily. He passed through the vent and worked his  
way toward the inside of the ship. Nothing preventing  
him from traveling. It had a great propulsion system  
though it didn't seem to be being used accept to power  
the electronics inside of it. It orbited its planet based on  
the proper distance and gravitational pull. It must  
have used the propulsion system to begin its orbit.  
Once in orbit around a planet, it would continue to  
orbit, there would be nothing to slow it down. Ian  
knew that in order for the beings to keep space  
from coming in, there would be no obvious entry  
way into the ship itself. As he past further into the  
ship he began to see lights. The light emanated  
from what were apparent residences, labs or  
offices. But it would take some time to get close  
enough to see inside these residences if that was  
even possible. He then noticed a break in the skin  
of the vessel. A means to an opening of sorts, it  
actually began to open. A large bright flair, Ian  
was sure this was the end of him but when the  
flair dissipated nothing had happened to him, he  
looked himself over, surely it had scorched him  
or something. After a moment he realized that  
nothing had changed, it was simply something  
that was visible from his shuttle. Ian had to  
adjust his ships harmonics in order to detect  
anything on his instruments. Adjusting harmonics  
was something you almost never did and was  
often done by the ship designer when it was done.  
The opening was closed but Ian was still convinced  
that they knew he was there. Another bright flair,  
he had to shield his eyes this time but the bright  
light didn't concern him as much this time. Although  
Ian assumed that his harmonic adjustments had  
surely triggered something this time but again when  
the flair faded, nothing had happened, no indication  
that he had been detected. There was, this time,  
something there before the but not after. His  
computers apparently had recorded nothing so  
he wasn't sure. His sensor harmonics detected  
something for a moment and then after the flair  
there was nothing. Ian remained inside the vessel  
for days but nothing transpired, he was running  
low on fuel and supplies. He was about to leave  
the vessel when he noticed a large cube  
shaped object floating in space. He hadn't  
noticed the opening but apparently it had  
opened and closed. No propulsion in the  
cube itself, no windows, only a garage door like  
hatch that his readjusted sensors detected on  
one side of the cube.

Then something in the wall of the great vessel  
opened up, no indicator that there was an  
opening but two large laser like objects appeared.  
Ian watched, when the laser like objects fired a  
bright beam of light at the cubical object, it began  
to glow. This all happened very quickly. Suddenly  
a bright light appeared blinding Ian again, when the  
light was gone Ian was able to uncover his eyes. The  
laser like objects were retracting back into the inside  
of the vessel and when he looked down the cube was  
gone. He waited a little longer, a day past, nothing  
happened. His fuel and supplies were running  
dangerously low, he could wait no longer, he exited  
the vessels vent and headed back for the galaxy.

When he arrived at Corellia and entered his  
apartment there were people waiting for him. He  
recognized two of them, they were government  
officials, his bosses, the other eight he didn't know.  
They were rather swarthy looking people in a  
uniform of sorts. Ian stopped at the entrance to  
his apartment, paused and then went in further.  
He was shocked to say the least but he tried to  
hide it.

" _Ian,_ " His boss, **Volts Hyperlast** opened.

" _Volts,_ " Ian replies trying not to sound suspicious.

" _Ian, these people are from the First Galactic  
Empire. __They're interested in some of the  
designs you've come __up with for ships._ " Volts says.

" _The First Galactic Empire, aren't they the ones_  
 _interested in building a space station._ " Ian asks.

" _Yes, we are._ " **Leo Mantisa** steps up. Normal  
looking but in a very well pressed uniform. " _I'm  
Commander **Leo Mantisa** , I originated __the plans._ "

Ian looks at him not speaking for a moment,  
he then notices a particularly strangely dressed  
man, with some sort of war paint on his face. The  
man was dressed in a black robe, strange shoes,  
a pronounced collar, several necklaces with  
pendants Ian had never seen and red and  
white paint or even tattoo's of a sort, on his  
face. There was something quite commanding  
about him, he seemed to glow a bit, though the  
others stood around him sort of protecting or  
shielding him and didn't seem to gaze at him the  
same way that Ian did.

" _The idea for the Space Station are… inspired."_ Says Ian.

" _Thank you._ " Leo replies.

" _How can I help you?_ " Ian asks.

" _We were wondering if you would like to come with_  
 _us. See our new ship building facility, give us some_  
 _pointers about what we can improve on._ " **Sitau Siln**  
another Uniformed man asks.

Ian pauses again, not sure what to say. He fumbles  
for words, " _I… I have a lot of work to do._ "

 **Enoban Thul** , the other of Ian's bosses, who  
was also one of the high commanders of the  
Corellian government speaks up, " _Oh, Ian, we_  
 _can put your other work on hold. I think you should_  
 _go._ "

Ian is nervous but has to think. " _I… well, alright, can  
_ _I take a moment to… look over my schedule, there  
_ _may be something important there?_ "

" _Of course Ian._ " Volts answers.

" _It's in my other room, on my main computer._ "  
Ian replies.

They make way for Ian to enter the other room in  
his apartment. In the back of Ian's mind he is very  
alarmed and wonders how he is going to get away  
without anyone seeing him. He is determined to go  
back to Magus as soon as possible.

When he enters the other room, the door automatically  
slides closed behind him, he was alone for the moment. He  
looks around the room, an air vent in the ceiling. Maybe  
just big enough for him to slip into. Heat came from the  
vent and the duct work was narrow at best. He reaches  
into his pocket and pulls out an object that allows him to  
loosen the mechanism that holds the vent closed. Ian  
pops the vent open, he carefully and quietly hoists himself  
up into it, it's hot and he barely fits. It dawns on him that  
the vent entrance will be hanging open. He hears a noise,  
the vent has closed itself behind him, spring activated no  
doubt. As best he can he begins to push himself through  
the ventilation system.

The men in his apartment are standing, waiting for him.  
One of the Corellian government officials looks over at the  
strangely dressed man and smiles a little, the man does  
not smile back, then the strangely dressed man speaks up,  
his voice is altered, it's deep and commands attention.

" _We should check the room, I sense that there is no one_  
 _in there._ " Darth Plagueisies comments.

 _"I… how would you know that?_ " Volts asks, but he is  
immediately hushed and one of the Uniformed men knocks  
on the door, no answer.

Darth Plagueisies springs to life, he pulls his light saber out,  
ignites it and quickly and efficiently cuts a hole in the door.  
Regardless of the red hot dripping metal, Darth Plagueisies  
and several of the other uniformed men run in. The room  
is as Darth Plagueisies sensed it, empty. Volts and Enoban  
walk in, Darth Plagueisies looks over at them they look back  
at him, the two Corellian officials sense that he may be the  
last thing they ever look at.

 **10\. Another Helpless Planet**

Another helpless planet **Alitsis,** a planet that has resisted the  
Empire, is about to be victimized by the Empire. The Empire  
surrounds Alitsis with a fleet of Star Destroyers. The people  
on Alitsis know of the Empires presents but are not prepared  
for the onslaught that they assume awaits them. The people  
send pleas to the Imperial ships but receive no return response  
from the Empire. They finally have no choice but to relent and  
let the Empire come to the surface to begin recruiting members  
to their work force. Alitsis has a contingent of human's that the  
Empire particularly wanted because of their high level of  
intelligence. Their civilization is not that advanced but many  
around the galaxy believe they will be at some time in the near  
future. What the Empire wasn't ready for was their level of  
resistance, a rebellion of sorts. The Empire came to the planet  
hoping to strong arm this civilization. Though many of the  
Alitsis were killed, they kept on coming, almost willing to die  
rather than be governed by the Empire.

The Alitsis civilization seemed to feel that their resistance would  
be a deterrent of its own. That enemies of this race would  
eventually tire of the Alitsis patriotism and leave well enough  
alone. That somehow, the Alitsis were a patriotic people and  
that their patriotism would be their defense. This attitude  
only served to irritate the higher ranking officials in the  
Empire. The Empire has eventually decided it doesn't want  
the male population from Alitsis for the Imperial work force.  
They decide to make an example of this planet for other planets  
in the system to see, in case those planets are thinking of  
resisting. The government officials on Alitsis don't know what  
to do, they don't really have the technology but attempt to  
send an inter-stellar message for help. The Empire begins to  
charge their weapons. Officials of the Rebellion ships receive  
the plea as a static laced message and see the weapons  
charged as well on their computers, they know the people  
on Alitsis have no way of knowing that the Empire has its  
weapons charged and is about to fire on them.

The Rebels must move quickly if they are to attack the  
Empire ships before they can fire on the helpless planet.  
The Imperial ships begin to fire, assets on the planet's  
surface are being destroyed. The laser pulses are huge and  
powerful destroying entire buildings at a time. Suddenly  
Alliance ships begin to appear dropping out of light speed  
near the Empire ships. The Imperial ships obviously sense  
this and cease firing. The Alliance ships sense that the Empire  
is re-training their weapons, smaller Alliance vessels begin  
spilling out of the larger Alliance ships. They attach themselves  
to outer hull of the Star Destroyers. Groups of Imperial Soldiers  
are sent to several of the places where the Alliance ships have  
attached on the other sides. More and more small Alliance ships  
continue to leave the Armada ships and attach themselves to  
the Star Destroyers. The Star Destroyers begin to fire on the  
small Alliance ships. That's when all hell breaks loose, the  
Alliance soldiers begin to pierce the hulls of the Star Destroyers  
attacking like pirates of old.

The problem for the Empire ships is that some of the Alliance  
ships also contain Jedy. The Jedy knights also hop through  
deflecting laser blasts from the Imperial guns, some back  
at the Imperial soldiers that fired them. Hundreds of Alliance  
ships have attached and pierced the sides of the Imperial  
Star Destroyers. There is only one Sith for all the Imperial  
ships. The imperial ships were not prepared to be boarded.  
 **Darth Crescentwar** was on the Star Destroyer **Musbedm**.  
He attempts to fight off the Alliance soldiers that have  
attacked his ship and is fairly successful until one of the  
Rebel soldier's calls for Jedy assistance. The Jedy are there  
in no time in their own ships, they attach to the Alliance  
ships and enter the Star Destroyer through the hole made  
in the Alliance ship. Darth Crescentwar is suddenly just  
defending himself, he escapes with his life after the Jedy  
come in and begin attacking him. He hides and now the  
Jedy and the Rebel soldiers are free to continue their  
invasion.

" _Are there more Sith on board?_ " Asks one Jedy.

" _Not that I can sense._ " Replies another.

Some of them, the Rebel soldiers that did not  
have Jedy accompanying them, get out-numbered  
by the Imperial Soldiers and have to escape back  
to their ships which detach themselves from the  
Star Destroyers leaving perfectly round holes where  
they were, allowing space to come in before emergency  
shields can block the openings. The small Alliance vessels  
proceed back to the larger ships of the Armada. The  
Star Destroyers are tainted now but still attempt to fire  
on the small ships. The larger Armada ships fire on the  
Star Destroyers disabling many of their weapons leaving  
them unable to fire. The Star Destroyers are well armed  
and have very powerful deflector shields. None are heavily  
damaged by the larger Alliance ships but have to begin to  
turn tail and run or eventually suffer enough laser blasts  
to disable their shields and be destroyed.

The Star Destroyers that now contain Jedy are not fairing  
as well. Between the Jedy and the Rebel soldiers, some of  
the Star Destroyers are slowly but surely falling to the  
Alliance. Some of the rebel force along with Jedy, make  
their way to the main bridges of the Star Destroyers, the  
officers on the bridges try to fight but are easily cut down.  
Two Star Destroyers fall into Rebel Alliance hands, the men  
on board are taken prisoner. Some of the other Imperial  
ships have their deflector shields disabled; then, just as  
suddenly the rest of the Jedy and the Rebel soldiers run  
back to their ships, detach and head back for the Armada,  
every time a Rebel ship detaches, protective shields must  
cover the holes. This takes a few seconds, many of the  
Imperial soldiers and Imperial Droids are sucked out into  
space as planned by the Alliance. The Empire thinks that  
they've taken back their vessels only to realize, too late,  
many of their shields have been disabled.

The larger Armada ships take advantage and heavily damage  
or obliterate the Star Destroyers. The Alliance ships then  
jump back to light speed and disappear, two of the Star  
Destroyers are also commandeered and taken back as  
war spoils with the Rebels. Soon many of the Empire ships  
are left at the mercy of space, damaged to the point of  
not being able to fire on **Alitsis** or not being able to move  
at all. Other Imperial ships are sent to assist but are only  
able to rescue not to defend. They leave quickly with their  
tails tucked between their legs.

Back on Corellia Darth Plagueisies is furious. There are  
other Sith and Empire Officers with him.

" _We must, we must have that ship builder. He is the only_  
 _one capable of designing the space station that we need._  
 _And now, in addition, we need him to incorporate a weapon_  
 _that will destroy a planet by itself._ " An angry Darth Plagueisies  
says.

" _And what of the Star Destroyers in our fleet your majesty._  
 _We have many, have they become useless to the Empire?_ "  
An officer asks.

 _"They will be used for other things. They are still great and_  
 _powerful but stand in the shadow of the space station_." Darth  
Plagueisies says as he contemplates the issue.

Ian scoots along in the ventilation system, almost cooking  
from the heat. He passes over several offices, none seem occupied.  
He hears something behind him, it's a small probe, probably  
looking for him. He has to move fast now, he scoots over an  
opening leading into an office where an attractive half human  
half droid sits entering data into a computer. Ian smashes the  
vent open and climbs out, the droid woman just watches, not  
startled at all. Ian drops down and closes the vent opening  
quickly. The probe passes them by.

" _My, you're tall aren't you?_ " The droid woman asks seemingly  
not disturbed.

Ian is frantic, " _They're looking for me._ "

" _Who's looking for you?_ " She asks.

" _Imperial's I think, I'll give you anything if you'll hide me._ "  
Ian asks.

A knock at the door, she opens it. Darth Plagueisies, the  
other Imperial's and Ian's two bosses are at the door. " _We  
_ _are looking for a man._ "

" _So am I._ " She jokingly responds.

" _We think he disappeared in the ventilation system._ " Volts  
asks her.

She looks up and then around, looks back at them  
and smiles, " _No_ _one here, I find it hard to believe a  
_ _regular size man_ _would fit in there anyway._ " She says.

Darth Plagueisies looks around the office himself but  
doesn't see anything. " _He's near, I can feel him, take  
_ _us to other rooms near this one._

He commands the Corellian government officials.

They leave, the door slides closed. Ian climbs out  
from under the desk. " _I can't believe that worked._ "

" _I can't either, the one guy was a Sith, I'm surprised  
_ _he didn't sense you here._ " She says.

Ian looks around, " _He might have, what's your name?_

" _Exit._ " She replies.

" _Why would you help me?_ " Ian asks.

" _I really don't like those Imperial guys either. I work  
_ _for one and he's a creep._ " She says.

" _I'm grateful._ " Ian says. " _Now I have to figure out  
_ _how to get out of here quickly._ "

" _Follow me, where are you going by the way?_ " She asks.

" _To my ship, dock eleven._ " Ian replies.

" _I'll get you there under one condition._ " She says.

" _Anything._ " Says Ian.

" _You look me up when you can, I have to get out of here  
_ _too._ " She says.

Ian agrees, she peeks out the door, no one is around.  
She signals him to follow her, they cautiously make  
their way down several corridors until they come to  
the space platform where Ian set his ship down. Darth  
Plagueisies and his entourage are down another hall  
when Darth Plagueisies has another premonition, he  
stops obviously sensing something. He quickly directs  
everyone to the landing platform, they all turn and run  
that way. When Ian and Exit get to the platform where  
his ship is, there is a guard. When they try to get past  
him, he stops them. He is about to question them when  
he gets a call on his communicator. He holds his hand  
up to his ear as to make sure he hears correctly, Ian  
knows what message he's getting. Ian waits for the  
guard to confirm his suspicions but before the guard  
can react, Ian has him in a bear hug squishing him!  
Ian tries to muscle the guard down but the guard is  
too wiry. Ian ends up on top of him and has no choice  
but to disable the guard. Ian strikes the guard  
incapacitating him, then he puts the guard in a head  
lock and proceeds to choke him to death. Exit is  
watching and tries to stop Ian by crying at him before  
he can follow through but it's too late, the guard's  
arms go limp.

"Wow, I can't believe you just did that." Exit says.

Ian looks at himself, pauses and says, " _I can't either._ "

Ian grabs her hand and pulls her into the landing platform  
room. They dash towards his ship. When they arrive at it,  
he pulls out a fob of sorts and presses something on it  
opening a hatch. He climbs in. They say their last goodbyes,  
she backs up and he takes off. Still low on fuel and supplies,  
he makes for his old home on _**Devaron**_. He goes to the  
Stalrif's, there is no one home, he breaks in, cleans out the  
food stores and makes for a fueling station. Upon arrival  
at the fueling station he produces a chit with what used  
to have capital from his position on Corellia. He fuels  
his ship but when he presents the chit to the proprietor  
the chit comes back zero. The proprietor looks at Ian, he  
hands the chit back.

" _It says zero._ " Says the proprietor.

Ian doesn't know what to do. He has to move fast, think  
fast.

" _Do you have other forms of capital?_ " The proprietor asks.

Ian thinks, " _No… I don't._ "

" _You wait here, I bring the authorities._ " The proprietor says.

The proprietor is behind a ray shield, Ian can't get too him.  
The Imperial's will surely find out where he is, he begs the  
proprietor but the alien ignores him. When he tries to leave  
to go back to his ship he finds that the doors to the refueling  
platform are locked. He's a prisoner, a sitting duck for the  
Empire when they find him there. He's a genius, there  
has to be a way for him to escape. Authorities come to  
the refueling station, Ian is taken into custody, put in  
shackles and transported to a post on his home planet  
where he is remanded to a holding cell. Once inside, Ian  
looks around, but sees nothing. The room is devoid of  
windows, panels, wall plates and vents. There is only  
one way in or out. A small buzzing sound, a virtual screen  
appears above the only table in the room. One of the  
Authorities appears and asks Ian if he has representation,  
Ian tells the man that he does not. The virtual screen  
disappears followed by another buzzing noise. He sits,  
then he gets up and begins feeling around the walls,  
nothing. He calls out…

" _Excuse me, can I talk to someone?_ " Ian asks the air.

The buzzing noise comes again and an authority appears  
on a virtual screen again.

" _What is it?_ " The authority alien asks.

" _I work on Corellia, maybe someone there can help._ "  
Ian replies knowing he can't really go searching  
until the screen disappears followed by the buzzing  
noise again.

This time, Ian almost pinpoints the  
sounds. It comes from a tiny pin size hole in the  
wall. Ian looks around the room, they've stripped  
him of everything? He looks at the chair, he  
supposed they figured he couldn't do any harm  
with that. If he tried to hit someone with it, they'd  
be ready and then he'd be in even bigger trouble.  
Besides, his hands were still shackled. He thinks,  
then he picks up the chair and puts it behind his  
back. Surely they'd be watching so he would have  
to move fast. He takes the chair with his shackled  
hands and smashes it into the wall where the small  
hole is, the wall cracks. He knows they'll be onto  
him now, he takes the chair and smashes it into  
the wall again, this time a piece of the wall falls out.  
There are electrical components there. Surely there  
must be a connection from the buzzer to the screen.  
And where there's a connection to the screen there  
must be something that controls the automatic door.  
He looks, nothing. When they come in Ian is sitting  
on the chair. He has one chance, he fights the two  
men that come after him. He's strong but not a  
fighter by any means. He gets out, closes the door,  
smashes a panel on the outside of the room  
jamming the door and adjusts something inside  
the panel locking the two officers in the room.

" _Dang, it worked._ " Ian says to himself surprised.

Ian tries the door to the outside but it's locked. He notices  
a control panel, all that is on it is a key pad. He pries the  
key pad panel open, looks, reaches in and before long  
the door to the outside slides open. The door to the cell  
is beginning to open, he makes a mad dash out the door,  
finds one of the authority ships and climbs in. And not a  
moment too soon, one of the Imperial shuttles, that he  
designed, lands. Darth Plagueisies and several Imperial  
officers disembark. The two authority aliens make their  
way out of the cell really none the worse for wear, they  
explain to the Imperial's what happened. They all assume  
that he didn't have time to steal a ship so he must be  
somewhere near the building. As they branch out to look  
for him, the Imperial shuttle hatches close, comes to life  
and flies off but not before turning its guns on the  
remaining Authority ships still on the platform to make  
sure they won't follow. The Authority men and the  
Empire men including Darth Plagueisies dive for cover.  
In the wake of the shuttle, everyone comes out from  
hiding.

" _I've got to learn how to use the Dark-Side to pin-point  
my __senses._ " Says Darth Plagueisies to himself.

Ian still doesn't have supplies but the shuttles fuel gauge  
indicates full. And it holds more than his own ship did.  
They would be looking for him but they wouldn't find him  
where he was going. Supplies… Ian sets the ship to fly  
automatically and begins wandering around the ship looking  
to see if there is any food. He finally finds a few bottles of  
water and some energy bars but there is nothing else. He's  
determined, he continues to fly toward the edge of the galaxy  
and beyond to the planet of Magus where he was before, he  
is too determined to think about getting more supplies. Days  
go by, the food and water are long gone. Ian knows he has  
to get food before finishing the long jaunt to Magus. As he's  
looking for a place that might have supplies an Imperial ship  
identifies him. It's big and probably has a small galley on it.  
He disguises his voice in an attempt to sound Imperial or at  
least not like himself, he calls to them.

 **11\. Deception**

" _This is commander Schmidt of the Shuttle Pratt. The_  
 _prisoner landed on a nearby planet and tried to get supplies._  
 _We tried to apprehend him but he resisted and we had to kill_  
 _him._ " Ian says in an attempt to deceive the other ship.

A pause, then,

" _Do you have the prisoners body with_  
 _you?_ " A voice from the other ship asks.

" _Yes, the body is here._ " Ian replies.

Ian waits, they may have found him out.

" _Where is the other ship?_ " The other voice asks.

" _Destroyed. We had the prisoner on board when it happened._  
 _He obviously didn't want us to find whatever he was hiding._  
 _He fought, we had to kill him._ " Ian replies.

" _We detect no residual objects._ " Says the voice.

" _Different location, we traveled until we met you_  
 _here._ " Replies Ian hoping they'll go for it.

Another pause.

" _We'll need confirmation, can you_ _come aboard?_ "  
The other voice asks.

" _Affirmative._ " Ian says wondering what he's going  
to do once on board the other vessel.

The Imperial transport opens a hatch at its lower side.  
Ian flies the shuttle in, the hatch closes under him and  
he sets down. He can see that his trick didn't work, soldiers  
quickly approach the shuttle with weapons in hand. He has  
to think fast, the shuttle lifts off again. The Imperial soldiers  
look up at the shuttle, then they begin firing. Ian arms the  
weapons on the shuttle and fires killing off most of the soldiers.  
The rest duck for cover, Ian sees the men in the command  
center. They will surely take control of the shuttle and maneuver  
it manually, Ian fires at the command center. Everyone in it is  
killed before they can take control, the explosion is huge. He  
feels the remaining soldiers firing on him from underneath. He  
turns the shuttle with what little room he has and fires on the  
remaining soldiers.

When he stops firing, there is no one in site. He's willing to  
bet there are more men waiting for him. He turns the shuttle  
and fires on accesses to the bay. The accesses are built with  
heavy doors; the shuttle can't damage them without firing  
constantly for several minutes. Unsure of what else to do, he  
lands the shuttle. He looks around, no one is coming. He opens  
the shuttle back hatch, he grabs an Imperial rifle and carefully  
moves down the ramp ready to make a fast break back into the  
shuttle if something happens. There are Imperial Soldiers lying  
dead all over, he notices a man dressed as a pilot lying dead.  
Surely there must be more men. He cautiously moves toward  
one of the accesses to the rest of the ship. Covered with blast  
marks but still intact. He opens it, sure that someone would be  
waiting but no one is. He makes his way down several corridors.  
He accesses a computer panel to locate the galley, he finds the  
galley; no one seems to be around. Apparently the ship just had  
a small complement of men and was piloted by just the one  
man. Ian begins taking food back to the shuttle with the use  
of a transport droid. He thinks about taking the ship but  
doesn't want to look too obvious and the shuttle is plenty  
big enough to use for what he needs. He finally finishes  
loading the last of the food. He exits down the ramp one  
more time to make sure that he hasn't forgotten anything  
when he is met by a single Imperial Droid with a rifle  
pointed at him, Ian drops his rifle.

" _Please… make it quick_." Ian tells the Imperial.

The Imperial Droid lowers his weapon and takes off his  
helmet.

He's a human wearing a droid uniform " _I… I don't… I'm not  
_ _going to shoot you_."

The man inside the Imperial Droid uniform looks normal,  
just a man.

Ian is shocked, " _You… you're not?_ "

" _Just leave me with this ship, I'll use it to escape._ " The  
Imperial says.

" _Escape… from what?_ " Ian asks.

" _The Empire, some of us don't want to be part of it. I have_  
 _a wife and two kids waiting for me, hiding."_ The man says.

Ian looks at him and smiles. " _Do you want to come with  
me?_"

" _No, I just want to go back to my family but… thanks._ "  
The man says.

" _What if they catch you?_ " Ian asks.

" _I'll just have to take that chance. You have a shuttle,  
please, __leave me._ " He asks.

" _I wish you the best of luck, what about food?_ " Ian  
asks as he offers the man what he has in hand.

 _"I'll eat when I get to my family._ " The man answers.

Ian smiles at the man, picks up the rifle, walks back up  
the ramp, closes it and lifts off. The man goes back inside  
the main part of the ship and closes the access door behind  
him. Soon the large doors below the Shuttle open and Ian  
flies out. Still not sure that the Imperial Droid was on the  
level, he watches the ship from a screen in front of him.  
Soon the ship begins to move and shortly jumps to light  
speed.

" _Someone is watching out for me._ " Ian says to himself.  
He sets coordinates in his shuttle computer and flies off,  
tanks full and supply stores at max.

 **12\. Magus**

Several months go by before he reached Magus, the  
galaxy is behind him, space in front of him but is  
void of stars, dark and vast. He can see other galaxies  
in the distance but Magus was not part of those  
either. It would actually take him several more  
months to reach another galaxy at Light Speed  
even though he can see them from his ship. He  
guides the shuttle toward the lonely planet. The  
huge ship finally re-appears. He guides the shuttle  
into the large vent and proceeds to the coordinates  
where he was before where he witnessed the cube  
being vaporized. He is in luck, one of the cubes is  
floating out into the ships ventilation area. And sure  
enough, the large lasers appear and fire on the cube  
vaporizing it. Ian is shocked but then again something  
about the cube being vaporized seems strange to him.  
Usually when something was vaporized, there was  
residual elements, even microscopic sometimes but  
the shuttles sensors, better than the ones on his ship,  
detected nothing.

The lasers seemed to vaporize everything including  
any residual elements. That was impossible he  
thought, unless… there were two possibilities. One,  
he was witness to a new undocumented civilization  
so they may have invented a way to vaporize  
something without leaving a trace. If the Empire  
ever found out about that… The other possibility  
was that the cubes weren't being vaporized at all,  
it was a form of transport. He scanned the area,  
no trace of anything that would indicate a process  
of transference. He goes back and reviews the  
recordings, all good scientists' record major events.  
He sits viewing the recordings and scanning them  
as he watches. There! It was almost too small to  
see, digital arrows pointed at it. A small beam  
emitting from one of the lasers that pointed down  
toward the planet. In fact, if his eyes weren't fooling  
him, the beam went through the red haze. The cube  
was gone in the recordings and must have been sent  
down the beam, that was the only thing that made  
sense. He would risk it, he would latch on to a cube.  
Ian new exactly where the shuttle attachment controls  
were because he designed the shuttle. If the Empire  
was using his design for the shuttle, what other  
designs of his were they using for their dastardly  
deeds?

He waits several days, his supplies are running  
low again. He was trying to conserve but he was  
getting very hungry and thirsty. He calculated  
that he would be able to last a couple more days.  
Eventually he would have to return to his galaxy  
to find more food. But he also knew that when he  
did, his pursuers would be waiting for him. And  
even if he had the power he did not have the  
strength or where-with-all to evade them. Death  
was sure, one way or another. Finally, on the  
morning of what he would have considered to be  
his last day, a cube appeared. He set his auto-  
sequencer to fly down and latch onto the cube.  
If his hypothesis was correct, in theory, when the  
laser transfer was made, he and his shuttle would  
be transferred with it. Or he would be vaporized  
into non-existence. The shuttle flew in and latched  
on. The large lasers appear and fire. When he came  
to, he was on what he assumed was the planet  
surface. He was burnt, exhausted and the shuttle  
was destroyed but he was alive. Several of the  
planets species were standing around looking  
down at him, Ian passes out.

 **Imperial Admiral Arnothian** sits at a panel aboard  
a Star Destroyer. He punch's some things into a  
keyboard in front of the panel and reviews what's  
written, which appears in a different language.  
"How did they know they could attack us from the  
inside?" He asks himself in thought. "I would have  
thought that most ship captains and warriors would  
think that the hull was too thick to penetrate."

Darth Plagueisies comes up behind him. The Admiral  
knows he's there but doesn't turn around. " _With a  
Light Saber Admiral_." Plagueisies volunteers.

" _A Light Saber?_ " The Admiral questions.

The Admiral turns around to look at the Sith Lord.  
Darth Plagueisies pulls his Light Saber from its sheath  
and ignites it, he waves it around so that it hums  
when it passes through the air as he himself watches  
it, then smiles.

" _Amazing isn't it?_ " Darth Plagueisies  
says still watching the Saber as he wheels it like a  
true swordsman.

" _I would have never thought they were that powerful._ "  
Says the Admiral now watching the Light Saber also.

Darth Plagueisies turns quickly and cuts a huge iron table  
in half behind him! The plating around the table is rather  
thin but the components inside the table are also cut  
clean in half and the floor where the Light Saber struck  
before Darth Plagueisies pulled it back, had a deep crevasse  
where it hit, in the shape of the tip of the Light Sabers  
beam. Darth Plagueisies turns the Light Saber off and  
sheath's it. The Admiral is amazed at how clean the cut  
was and how it basically cut through everything it came  
in contact with.

" _A Sith, or a Jedy's Light Saber is his best friend Admiral.  
And make no mistake, the Jedy are just as agile with  
one as are the Sith, they will see you coming before  
you know it and if they hit you with their Light Sabers  
at full power, you will cease to exist. The Light Saber  
will ignite your entire body and destroy it in an  
instant._" Says Plagueisies.

" _I have heard of its destructive force in battle but I  
have not seen it until now._" The Admiral adds.

" _A light Saber is an extension of its wheeler. Though  
_ _an electronic device, it is the source of the Sith or  
_ _Jedy's power._ " Darth Plagueisies says.

" _Behind the Force of course?_ " The Admiral adds.

" _The Force is what makes the Wheeler of a Light  
Saber so dangerous. The Force guides the  
Wheelers hand, the Light Saber is part of the  
Force._" Darth Plagueisies preaches.

" _But not all of the Rebel ships had Jedy._ " The  
Admiral suggests." _A good Jedy, can be in  
two places at the same time._" Suggests  
Darth Plagueisies.

" _Can you?_ " The Admiral asks.

Plagueisies' Silhouette fades in opacity.  
He speaks again but from outside of the  
room. The door to the room slides open.  
The Admiral sees Darth Plagueisies walk  
in through the door. Then the figure that  
walked in the door fades in opacity. Darth  
Plagueisies is back in his original position.

" _Amazing, isn't it Admiral?_ " Plagueisies  
asks. " _And one can use the Force to  
manipulate the thinking of the weak  
minded. Sith call it **Sallaros** the Jedy  
call it… The Jedy mind trick."_

The Admiral turns quickly to see that  
Plagueisies is now standing where he was.

" _Truly._ " The Admiral says.

Darth Plagueisies continues on with the Admiral.  
For certain, someone had to know where on the  
Star Destroyers to attach and pierce the hull,  
the Admiral sees his logic. They continue to  
ponder and discuss the situation.

Yodi is in a trance. As we look into his  
thoughts, a Star Destroyer comes into view,  
Yodi had used the Force to see the layout of  
the large vessels. Since he was not sensing  
anyone that knew the ways of the Force, his  
telepathic went unnoticed. Several other Jedy  
sit around Yodi, also in a trance. Yodi is  
teaching them how to use the Force to  
reach out through space, to see inside  
material objects. He hasn't taught them  
how to read minds yet.

Darth Plagueisies now sits entranced,  
pondering the secrets of the Dark-side. As  
we look into his thoughts we see that he  
is trying to uncover the ability to manipulate  
life… itself. The Force, good or bad, will not  
let anyone take away a life simply by stopping  
their heart. It does however, allow one to  
manipulate, move if you will, a person's body  
or even worse, set it afire. Difficult to do if the  
person is not near you unless one is a master  
of manipulating it. It allows one to sense danger,  
even eminent danger. To produce a reaction  
to someone's movements before they even  
know that they're going to move themselves.  
Even something as small as pulling a trigger  
or as large as striking with a Light Saber. Darth  
Plagueisies sees that, though there is no barrier  
to bringing someone back to life, if their life force  
isn't gone completely, if there is a way to use the  
Force to bring someone back to life after they've  
been dead awhile, even he does not know, though  
he is close to unlocking the secret. His thoughts  
proceed deeper. The way to animate someone  
back to the living is becoming apparent to him  
but the Dark Side stops him before he can see  
the secret, he is brought out of the trance.

Yodi sees Darth Plagueisies' thoughts. Yodi  
knows how to do this but he's not going to  
let on. He knows about reviving the dead  
because he had to do something similar  
when he transported from his own Galaxy  
to this one to chase after the Sith seven-  
hundred years ago. Sith in the past were  
able to do it but the practice was lost with  
time. And thank God for that.

The Jedy all come out of the trance.

" _Master Yodi, you were somewhere else for  
a moment._" A Jedy asks.

" _Yes, into Darth Plagues' thoughts I went._ "  
Says Yodi.

" _Would he not know you were there master?_ "  
Another Jedy asks.

" _Not if, hidden in the Force I was. But  
careful you must be, if into someone else's  
thoughts you go, hidden you must be._" Replies  
Yodi.

" _Teach us how to hide ourselves in the Force  
master._" Another Jedy asks.

" _Reveal this to you, the Force will soon but  
only when it is time._" Replies Yodi.

The other Jedy don't question this, they know  
that the Force does indeed reveal things when  
the time is right, when one has learned what  
he must, to control that power in the Force.  
One of the Jedy asks Yodi what he saw. Yodi  
replies that he saw Darth Plagueisies  
wondering. Wondering who or how the  
Rebels and the Jedy knew where to attach  
the ships during their last invasion. Yodi  
then told the other Jedy that the Empire  
would be ready for such an attack the next  
time. They would have to attack different  
the next time.

" _See the plans of their next attack, we must._ "  
Says Yodi.

But Darth Plagueisies has not revealed his  
plan yet, the rebels were fortunate the last  
time. Yodi was able to read a Sith's mind which  
got them close to where the attack was so  
that they were able to respond quickly, they  
would not be so lucky next time.

When Ian wakes up, he is fastened,  
restrained to a table. Not a comfortable  
gurney like on his planet in a hospital  
ward. He is obviously in a medical facility  
of some sort. He looks around hoping that  
he is not the subject of an autopsy to see  
how he ticks. One of the non-human species  
comes up beside him, the specie looked similar  
to a **Shi'ido** but clearly was not, his head was  
more… human like, only the body looked  
somewhat like Shi'ido. No elephant like snout,  
just a face personality and smile, a lot friendlier.

The Magus specie utters Ian's last name but  
the sound is animal like and not perceptible  
to Ian, Ian understands what the creature  
is trying to say, a friendly gesture at least  
for now. Ian points to himself though is  
arms are trapped by restraints.

" _Ian… Ian Bartholomew._ " Ian attempts to  
convey.

The creature is obviously inspired, its eyes  
go wide and it rushes out of the room. It  
comes back into the room several moments  
later with some sort of device.

It flips a switch on the device and a Human  
voice comes out of it. " _Bartholomew…_ " It  
repeats the word several times.  
" _Bartholomew… Bartholomew._ "

Ian responds with a smile. " _Yes_ ," he points to  
himself. " _Ian… Ian Bartholomew._ "

The creature plays the recording again. " _Bartholomew…  
_ _Bartholomew._ "

Ian then realizes that though the voice, saying  
his name is not his own voice that he's hearing  
in the recording, or the creatures.

" _Who… who is that?_ " Ian asks the creature.

The creature clearly does not know what Ian is  
trying to ask. Ian tries to point but his hand is  
restrained, the creature releases Ian's hands. Ian  
points to the machine and does a "what" gesture.  
The creature leaves again, this time for awhile, Ian  
lies back down and closes his eyes.

When he wakes the next time, he is in the same  
room but has been moved to a chair-like platform  
and all his restraints are gone. His eyes are failing  
him but he attempts to look around the room. He  
sees three of the creatures, each one a little  
different. He notices that each of them has a  
distorted right arm which is muscular to the  
extreme. Then his eyes scan back to a human,  
an older man, dressed like the rest of the species,  
long grey hair and beard. The human walks over  
smiling.

" _I have not spoken your language in a long time,  
please forgive me._" Says the Human.

Ian thinks a moment, then speaks, " _No…  
you're doing fine, I understand you._"  
" _Your second name, it is Bartholomew?_ "  
The human asks.

Ian thinks again, " _Yes. I'm Ian Bartholomew._ "  
The human thinks now, " _Where… are you  
from_?

Ian has to think, " _I don't… I don't know. I  
mean, I don't know where I originated._"

" _Did you know your… mother?_ " The human  
asks.

Ian thinks, " _Not my… real mother. I didn't  
know the woman who gave birth to me._"

The human speaks into a device while  
looking at one of the Magusian species  
in the room. The human man repeats  
what Ian said into the device. The  
Magusian man nods his head in the  
affirmative and smiles.

The human looks at Ian again, he  
pauses before he speaks. " _My second…  
last name… is Bartholomew. If I remember  
correctly my first name is… Renn._"

Ian thinks, " _I… I don't know anyone  
named… Renn. Why do you say this?_"

The human man repeats Ian's question  
into the device while looking at one of the  
Magusian men again. The Magusian man  
smiles and nods his head again.

" _I… believe, you might be a relation,  
possibly even… my son. Although I don't  
remember naming our son... Ian_" Says Renn.

Ian's eyes go wide.

" _How… many…_ " Ian Interrupts Renn.

" _…Forty-five years old_.

Renn calculates in his head for a moment.  
" _Yes, that is a long time for you… is it not?_ "

Ian thinks, " _Yes, I suppose it is_."

Renn goes on to explain that his wife,  
possibly Ian's mother, died after Ian was  
born. Renn was attacked by the Trade  
Federation because of his own ship designs,  
he was a good designer but when the Trade  
Federation tried to find him again he had to  
leave the planet. It was about fifty years ago.  
Renn is now eighty-four or as best he can  
remember. He goes on to explain that the  
Trade Federation found him again, so he  
jumped in a ship and flew away. He was  
able to escape but the Trade Federation  
caused irreparable damage his ship. He  
was stranded.

Renn tells Ian that he had run out of  
supplies and fuel and was adrift in space  
near the edge of the galaxy when they  
found him. The Magusian's were exploring.  
They had some pretty good technology but  
after some time they figured out that Renn  
was quite the brilliant ship designer. Renn  
then taught them how to design ships. He  
taught them many scientific engineering  
techniques. Their scientists were savvy and  
good learners. They figured out how to break  
down the cubes into molecular parts and then  
molecularly transport the cubes and then a  
computer re-assembles them upon arrival.  
Renn explained that during the molecular  
transport, the cube protects the people even  
though they are broken down molecularly also.  
For the first time, they were able to escape from  
the cloud when ship creation was difficult for  
such a purpose, from that point they could  
transport anything that fit in the cubes. He  
explained to Ian that the ship Ian was in, was  
destroyed by the transporter rays. Ian was  
exposed to the strange cloud that surrounded  
the planet and had to be nursed back to health  
or the gases from the cloud would have killed him.

Ian asked Renn about the huge ship. It was,  
of course too large to build on the planet's  
surface and there was no way for them to  
transport it through the cloud without someone  
getting poisoned or without destroying something  
in the process. The ship was a lot smaller when it  
started but the Magusian's began to extend  
research to others from the planet and they  
began to research the strange cloud. The research  
continues. The reason the ship is so large now is  
twofold. First, it had to be large enough to house  
all the families that did the research. And two, the  
Magusian's assumed that the planet would  
eventually implode on itself and they needed  
something large enough to house the rest of  
the families in the event that, that might happen.

" _I tried to explain to them that planets last a long  
time, but they weren't convinced._" Renn exclaimed.

Ian laugh's a little. Renn then tells Ian that there  
was another on board. It was a female but not  
human. She was damaged during the transport  
but the ship protected her to some extent.  
Ian knew who he was talking about, Exit!

" _Is she ok?_ " Ian asks.

" _Yes, I put her back together. She is quite  
amazing, she has the ability to think like a  
human but she is almost all machine. Some  
of her parts, very specific parts, are actually  
human, it was difficult to reconstruct some  
of that, someone in your galaxy figured out  
how to support parts of the human body  
and re-animate them on a mechanical body.  
I don't remember ever having the ability to  
make a machine think like a human or to  
reanimate human parts._"

" _And… She is very partial to you._ " Says Renn.

Ian knew, it had to be Exit. She must have  
stowed away on his ship. Strange that he  
did not detect her. " _Where is she?_ "

" _She waits, outside this room. She waits for  
_ _you._ " Replies Renn.

" _Please, can you bring her in?_ " Ian asks.

Renn speaks into the device while looking  
at one of the Magusian's, repeating Ian's  
question. Their mouths do not move. Ian  
determines that they must communicate  
through telepathy. The device that Renn  
speaks into, changes his language into  
theirs and sends it through radio waves  
that act as telepathy to them.

Exit walks into the room. She's beautiful,  
smiling at Ian. She walks over and sits  
next to him.

She kisses him on the forehead, " _Hey sailor._ "  
" _Exit, what are you doing here?_ " Ian asks.

Exit explains that if she had stayed they  
surely would have figured out that she  
helped him escape so she climbed aboard  
at the last minute. Renn and the rest of  
the Magusian's leave.

Exit sits on a stool next to Ian. " _I'm  
glad you're ok._" She says.

Ian looks at her, she was a droid, had she  
somehow fallen in love with him? He'd never  
known a droid to do that. Though he had  
designed many of the droid computer brains  
to think like humans. Ian called it Idiosyncratic  
Personalities. But he never thought it was good  
technology, someone must have improved on it.

Ian ponders a moment, " _I… I'm glad you're  
ok too… I think._"

 **13\. The Student Becomes The Teacher**

A couple of days later Ian is back to his old self.  
The Magusian's had good medicine. Ian was  
walking with Renn. Renn told Ian of how the  
Magusian's had adopted him. He taught them  
everything. They didn't have any real good  
technology or science when he came. They  
really didn't know much about science at all.  
Although they lived in fairly modern homes.  
They were smart and picked up on Renn's  
abilities quickly. Renn told Ian that when  
he lived in the Galaxy, no one had invented  
molecular transport. Ian informed Renn that  
they still hadn't.

Ian would want to take this technology with  
him if he ever went back home. Renn  
explained how the Magusian's learned  
the technology behind the lasers that  
were originally designed as weapons.  
Upon believing that they didn't need  
them anymore, they decided to study  
the technology and apply it to something  
else. Through Renn they learned how  
when a laser hits something it breaks  
the object down into molecular pieces  
but the pieces stay organized. Then  
Renn tells Ian that computers they  
built here became so advanced that  
they were actually able to reorganize  
and rebuild an object. Reanimating  
beings was a little harder and they  
had to learn how to do it without it  
being painful or reorganized the wrong  
way. Some of the reorganized experiments  
came out, let's say, inside out. Ian told  
Renn about the all the new ships he  
had designed, the new technology. Ian  
explained to Renn that he was a designer,  
engineer, scientist, and a government  
official for the Corellians.

Renn stops and looks Ian over. " _You have got  
to be my son._"

" _Could be… there does seem to be a lot of  
similarities between us._" Says Ian.

They walked on further, Renn asked Ian about  
Exit. How was it that she was so human like,  
how were they able to preserve human body  
parts like that. Ian explained that it was a  
scientific discovery that was discovered about  
twenty years ago. A man longing to preserve  
the love of his life learned to do it. The practice  
was outlawed for a long time until it could be  
shown as a safe procedure. Because at first,  
the science caused very harmful viruses. Water,  
simple water, is sent to the skin tissue and  
disbursed via a very advanced computer to  
the tissue reanimating nerves, blood, muscle,  
tendons, ligaments and even bone. Then  
designed by Ian himself, explained the science  
behind Idiosyncratic Personalities in droids. That  
by cross-referencing about a hundred personality  
traits, the database inside the droid brain could  
in effect, simulate human behavior. It took a  
couple of years before he learned all of the  
necessary science need to create such a thing.  
Although he had to admit that he'd never seen  
a droid that acted like Exit. He would have to  
study this behavior if he ever had the chance.  
Ian postulated that the droid Idiosyncratic brain  
studied human behavior and added personality  
traits itself. They were designed to learn.

Then Renn asked Ian a strange question.  
" _Can I trust you?_ "

" _To do what?_ " Ian asked.

" _To protect the Magusian's. To keep this place,  
this planet a secret._" Renn asked.

Ian had to think, he thought for a few moments,  
then answered. "Y _es, you can trust me. I will  
never divulge the where-abouts of this planet.  
Though I would like to take some of its  
technological secrets with me._"

" _I think that would be ok,_ " said Renn, " _As  
long as you can keep the source a secret._"

" _Of course._ "

" _Good, come with me_."

Ian followed Renn. They moved about on  
public transportation that Renn originated.  
They finally arrived at what appeared to be  
a lab. The Magusian's wandered about like  
humans, they worked there at the facility  
and had research projects of their own.

Ian looked up, he could see the Red cloud  
cover that seemed to engulf the planet.

Renn lead Ian down a couple of floors on  
an elevator of sorts. Entered a code, hand  
scan and slipped a card through a card  
reading device. The Magusian's were very  
protective of their new technology. He  
opened the doors to what was a huge  
engineering lab. In it was ship technology  
the likes of which Ian had never seen  
before. Ships of all sorts, and also what he  
determined to be ship engines, guns,  
shields generators and very advanced  
computers that seemed small in size.

" _I wonder… if you could explain some  
of this to me._" Ian asked Renn.

" _Of course but it will take some time.  
You will have to stay and the food,_" he  
cringes, " _takes some getting used to._ "

They worked together for days. Renn  
explained all the technology. He started  
with the ship engines. Explaining that he  
taught the Magusian's about engine  
technology but they improved on it making  
ship engines that propelled faster that the  
common Light Speed technology that he knew.  
The engines, the weapons, the shields, the ships,  
all prototypes, were infallible and more powerful  
than any Ian had ever seen. Some were huge.  
Ian understood that some of the technology was  
so big that they had to be assembled in space.  
Renn explained the technology behind making  
the engines so perfect. That the Magusian's were  
able to see outside the box so to speak and add  
their own ideas. They were disciplined beings,  
dedicated to an idea until it came true. Renn had  
never seen such devotion to science. And they're  
intelligence was incredible, though they had people  
at the other end of the scale also. Renn then showed  
Ian the weapons. They were perfect also and some  
huge. They never jammed and hardly ever broke  
down. The laser technology had even more energy  
than anything Ian had ever seen. The technology  
was relegated to huge clean rooms which were a  
marvel of technology themselves. The weapons  
were ultra powerful. They seemed to have a  
destructive force that was ten times the  
destructive capabilities of any weapons Ian  
had ever seen.

But the most interesting of all was the computers.  
They had speed, seemed idiot proof and were able  
to do things that Ian could only imagine. Like  
taking a person's thoughts and putting them  
through an extrapolation process, producing  
objects that were actually part of someone's  
imagination. The computers were able to predict  
things. To calculate based on only a few variables.  
That the computers could be made small and fit  
into a droids brain. He showed Ian the communication  
device that he'd invented based on the computer's  
ability to extrapolate. It was how he was able to  
learn the Magusian language. The Magusian's  
were responsible for much of the advanced  
technology. Renn was amazed at how much  
Ian understood about all that they had discussed.  
Then Ian changed the subject.

" _I was also running._ "

" _From what?_ "

" _There's a new faction in the galaxy.  
They call themselves the First Galactic  
Empire. They've convinced a lot of people,  
civilizations, to join them._"

" _Then there are a lot of people that  
know the Empire is evil._" Ian went  
on to explain to Renn all that the  
Empire was doing.

The Magusian's had much of the technology  
that Ian had been looking for. Highly advanced  
computers, weapons, propulsion systems and  
deflector shields. Their ships were huge, and  
just sometimes very complex. For the larger  
ships, it took huge propulsion systems to move  
them. Renn explained to Ian that they had not  
invented Hyper drives when he originally came  
there. So Ian explained to Renn that there was  
a different kind hyper drive in the galaxy. He also  
explained how they could build that kind of  
technology and adapt it to their ships. Renn  
was grateful.

" _There is one problem though._ " Renn stopped.

" _Isn't there always?_ " Ian jested.

" _Some of the Magusian's believe your being  
here is bad for them._" Says Renn.

" _So… you'll convince them to trust me like  
they trust you._" Says Ian.

" _I'm the only human on this planet besides  
you. They've had fifty years to learn to trust  
me._" Says Renn.

" _I get it. I really do._ " Ian says.

" _You're getting it doesn't matter, there are  
those who want to kill you rather than let  
you go._" Said Renn.

" _Really?_ " Ask Ian.

" _Ian, they trust me because…_ " Renn cuts off.

" _Because what?_ " Ian asks.

" _Because… I've agreed to never leave._ " Blurts  
Renn.

Ian just stands shocked. Renn continues on…  
" _Exit was interesting to them so they allowed  
_ _me to put her back together. Ian, they,  
_ _destroyed your ship, it wasn't the transport  
_ _machine as you were lead to believe, please  
_ _don't tell them I told you, well actually it was  
_ _but that's part of the fail-safe, all machines  
_ _are automatically destroyed if they aren't inside  
_ _the cubes. They don't want you to leave_."

" _But… I have to._ " Pleads Ian.

" _Yes… you do but you can't._ " Says Renn.

" _I need one of your ships._ " Ian says.

" _I'm pretty sure none of them will fit in the  
cubes and that's the only way off the planet._"  
Says Renn. " _You'll have to build your own._ "

" _Or I could modify one of yours."_ Says Ian.

" _Then what?_ " Asks Renn.

" _One thing at a time._ " Says Ian.

That night Ian is at Renn's living quarters.  
They're about to go to sleep when they  
hear a loud bang. They both jump. Renn  
jumped because he knew what it was.  
Renn explains that the Magusian's are  
using their huge arms to pound through  
the walls. Renn tells Ian to take cover.  
Renn runs to another room, then quickly  
comes out. Ian inquires what Renn was  
doing. He assumed Renn went to get a  
weapon. Renn explains that they will  
not allow him to have one. He simply  
called for help. That's all he could do.  
Another loud bang. This time, part of  
the wall caves in. Another bang, the  
rest of the wall comes down. The angry  
Magusian's run in. Renn and Ian wrestle  
with a couple of them but they have huge,  
powerful arms and fast. Ian and Renn are  
easily tossed across the room. More Magusian's  
run in. Some of them are carrying weapons.  
Ian charges one of them again but is easily  
knocked away again. A couple of them train  
their weapons on Ian and Renn, who assume  
this is their last. But just as they're about to  
be fired upon, good Magusian's and a friend of  
Renn's, come from behind, they fire their  
weapons into the angry mob. One of the good  
Magusian's gets into hand to hand combat with  
another. It's like two lions fighting. The battle  
is fierce. It is clear to Ian that he would have  
had no chance with any of them. The good  
Magusian wins the hand to hand battle but  
is bloodied and battered. The other bad  
Magusian's are gunned down or run off. Renn  
hears something and picks up his communication  
device. He looks at Ian.

" _My friends are saying you have to leave. I'm  
to give you one of my ships._" Says Renn.

" _I thought you said…_ " Renn cuts him off.

" _…I have one that might fit but it has to be  
modified and it has no weapons. It's not very  
fast but it will have to do._" Says Renn.

The Magusian's protect them as they run usher  
them to where Renn's lab is. Exit is there. The  
ship Renn spoke of is fairly non-descript and it  
would have to be modified, which he could do  
and turned on its side to fit into the cube.

" _Wait, how do we enter space?_ " Ian asks.

" _When the cube is floating in space outside the  
ships entryway, the cube will open. You and Exit  
will have to be in the ship when the cube opens.  
It's the only way to protect you from space. You'll  
have to fly it out sideways._" Renn explains.

" _What about you? What about the other  
Magusian's?_" Ian asks.

Renn pauses, " _None of us are going, you'll  
have to leave by yourselves. We can monitor  
you from here but there's no way to protect  
us from space either once the cube is opened._"

Renn hands Ian a package, then Ian and Exit  
jump into the ship. The Magusian's push the  
ship over on its side and push it into one of  
the cubes.

Ian mouths the words through  
the ships glass. " _I'll be back._ "

Renn acknowledges him.

No sooner do they get the cube closed, do  
the angry Magusian's attack from above, this  
time with a bigger force. Other good Magusian's  
arrive just in time in hovering ground attack  
vehicles to counter the attack. Hopefully the  
transporter lasers haven't been damaged.  
The lasers point at the cube and fire. The  
next thing Ian and Exit know, the cube is  
opening and they're in space in the vent  
area of the gigantic ship. Ian fires up the  
engines and with a little scraping, they fly  
out of the large ship vent and away from  
the planet.

Exit stands next to Ian, " _That was close._ " She says.

" _Too close._ " Says Ian.

She puts her arms around his neck. He looks  
up at her a little surprised.

" _You don't mind this do you?_ " She asks.

Ian has to think. " _Well… no… I guess not._ "

" _Listen, I may be a robot but they designed  
me to think like a woman. I need love to._" She says.

Ian looks at her again as he maneuvers the ship  
toward the Galaxy and enters something into its  
computer. " _I… guess I've really never been  
approached._"

" _By a droid?_ " She asks.

" _By any woman_." He adds.

She steps back. " _None?_ "

" _No, I guess I never really thought about it.  
Living on Corellia, the women I worked with  
were… co-workers, I was attracted to them  
but I… just never considered the possibility._"  
Said Ian.

She stands back. She is wearing clothing  
but it really doesn't cover up much. Her  
female parts are actually human adaptations  
and barely covered. " _Well, how do I look?_ "

Ian turns around, he is astounded at how  
enticing she appears. " _Wow, Exit, I can't  
believe it. I mean, you're a droid but you…_"

She sits in his lap and kisses his neck, then his  
mouth, romantically.

" _Exit, I don't know what it's like to kiss a girl  
but… you elicit emotions in me and as far as  
I can tell, there's no difference._" He says.

" _They designed me with real woman parts.  
Lips too. I doubt I'm as nice as a real woman  
but I think I can satisfy."_

He picks her up cradle style. She's kind of heavy.  
They kiss again, romantically. They move to the  
floor. She pulls him on top of her. The rest is left  
to the imagination.

Darth Plagueisies is commanding several legions  
of Star Destroyers. His son, Darth Sidiously is grown  
more and is with them. They know where Ian left  
the galaxy. And they're pretty sure they know  
where he's going to enter. They sit waiting. They  
have lots of time.

As they sit, Yodi, in a different location, senses  
that Darth Plagueisies is waiting for something.  
But this time Darth Plagueisies senses Yodi. Yodi  
jumps out of his trance. One of the Jedy meditating  
near him asks him what's wrong. Yodi tells him that  
Darth Plagueisies was ready for him and identified  
him when he was sensing Darth Plagueisies' mind.  
Yodi and the Jedy spring into action. One of the Jedy  
asks Yodi if he knew where Darth Plagueisies was. Yodi  
indicates that because Darth Plagueisies detected him,  
he had to get out of the trance before Plagueisies was  
able to reveal it. But Yodi also indicates that he knows  
that Darth Plagueisies is waiting for someone and is  
somewhere at the edge of the galaxy.

Yodi dares to try again while the Rebel ships begin  
a scan of the space around them. Plagueisies has  
a plan. He allows Yodi to reach out to him through  
the Force. Yodi jumps back again. He indicates that  
for some reason Darth Plagueisies has allowed it.  
Yodi was able to determine a location closer to their  
where-abouts. It would take some time to get there.  
The Rebels head in the direction of Darth Plagueisies'  
fleet. But Yodi is suspicious and goes to Senator Bail  
Organa to hatch a plan of their own just in case.

As Ian and Exit re-enter the Galaxy they instantly  
get an alarm indicating the presents of a part of the  
Imperial Fleet. Ian assumes they must be waiting  
for him. Darth Plagueisies' ship sensors pick up Ian's  
ship. They are unaware of what kind of ship he will  
be arriving in but they can do whatever they want  
based on the fact that Ian's ship doesn't do much.  
Darth Plagueisies issues an order to another part  
of his fleet to attack another planet as a deterrent  
to the Rebels.

Yodi and the Rebels are aware of the attack and  
must supply some assistance. So part of the  
Rebel fleet breaks off to assist the attacked  
planet. Now Yodi's Rebel fleet is short which  
could be a problem. The other Jedy with him  
re-assure him that it won't but Yodi knows  
better. Ian stops his ship. The Imperial  
ships begin to advance.

" _They're not waiting._ " Ian says.

" _Ah-oh, we can't out-run them_." Exit adds.

" _Nope, but we can try._ " Says Ian.

He turns the ship around and starts to run  
back. Darth Plagueisies believes the fact that  
he is running is an indicator that it is Dr.  
Bartholomew indeed. Several of the Star  
Destroyers speed up in an effort to catch  
Ian's ship.

Suddenly, Darth Plagueisies' ships alarms go  
off. The Rebel ships are near, armed and  
coming quickly. He sends a couple of Star  
Destroyers to apprehend Dr. Bartholomew's  
ship. They will easily over-take him. So Darth  
Plagueisies relaxes and is able to concentrate  
on fighting off the Rebels, which he knows  
are short ships. He has also planned to meet  
the Rebels with a hidden fleet of Star Destroyers  
and Tie fighters to protect them from the rear.  
When the Rebels arrive they are met in battle  
by the rear wave of Imperial ships as well as  
Darth Plagueisies' ships. Ian's ship isn't equipped  
with a lot but his ship is equipped with sensors  
that tell him and Exit that several Star Destroyers  
are coming after them. The Star Destroyers are  
almost on them and lock a tractor beam on them.  
Ian's ship is in no way powerful enough to pull  
away from the tractor beam. The Empire is  
pulling them in.

 **14\. Unexpected Help**

Suddenly there is an explosion. The tractor  
beam breaks loose of them. Several ships,  
all different and none that Ian had ever  
seen before are attacking the Empire ships.  
Some of the ships that save Ian and Exit  
are large, some are small. All have weapons  
and are advancing rapidly. The Empire ships  
are firing back but the deflector shields on  
the strange ships are more powerful than  
Ian had known of. A radio transmission  
comes over Ian's ships speakers. It's his  
father, Renn Bartholomew and some of  
the people from Magus.

" _Not a moment too soon dad_." Ian tells him.

" _We got ya son_." Renn comms.. back.

The weapons on the larger Magusian ships  
are powerful and wreak havoc on the Imperial  
ships. The Star Destroyers try to run but the  
Magusian ships continue to pound them.  
Eventually one of the Star Destroyers explodes.  
The explosion is enough to disable the other.  
Darth Plagueisies sees this on his ships sensors.  
The Empire is holding off and wreaking havoc  
on the Rebel attackers. He is relieved of this.  
But then the Magusian ships join the fight.  
Ian and Exit are able to skirt around the fight  
and head back to Corellia. Ian calls to his father.

" _We have to run dad, this ship has no weapons  
or defense capabilities._" Says Ian.

" _Run son, run!_ " Renn yells.

The Rebel ships are holding against the  
Imperial ships. The Rebel ships that had to  
break off earlier now join the fight with the  
rear Imperial ships. The Rebels mop up. The  
Imperial invaders that attacked the planet  
for a deception were a small fleet and  
between the Jedy and the Rebel ships, were  
able to end the conflict quickly, so they raced  
to join the other fight. Now the Imperial ships  
are being attacked by Renn's ships on one side,  
and a large group of Rebel ships on the other.  
Renn's ships are almost impenetrable and the  
Rebel ships are fighting well. The Empire must  
again run. Darth Sidiously suggests to his father,  
that instead of running back to Geonosis, they  
go to Corellia to find Ian. Darth Plagueisies loves  
the idea and turns his fleet toward Corellia.

Ian and Exit land at Corellia. They pass several  
people but no one seems to be aware of their  
current situation. They hurry to Ian's office.  
When they arrive, Ian immediately begins to  
round up blueprints and computer files  
containing his designs. Exit just watches him.

" _What was in the package that your father gave  
you?_" Exit asks.

Ian thinks. " _I forgot about that._ "

" _It's still in the ship isn't it?_ " She asks.

" _It is._ " Ian replies.

" _I'll go get it._ " Exit says.

" _Be careful_." Ian tells her.

She nods and leaves the office, Ian continues  
to collect stuff that the Empire might find.  
When Ian is finished he leaves his office. The  
halls are strangely empty. He's not sure what  
was going on. There is absolutely no one  
around. He finds his old bosses, Volt and  
Enoban lying dead in one of the corridors.  
Exit comes over Ian's communication device.

" _Exit._ " He calls into it.

She talks to him. " _It's full of blueprints, things  
your father designed for the Magusian's. And  
it looks like some of the stuff they improved  
on._"

" _Really, that's… that great._ " Says Ian.  
" _Be careful, something strange is going on._ "

" _I will._ " She replies.

The place has an eerie feel about it. He arrives  
back at the space port where he left his ship.  
When he goes through the door, all the people  
at his complex have their hands in the air. Darth  
Plagueisies, his son Darth Sidiously and several  
Imperial Officers have Exit at gun point. More  
Imperial soldiers come from behind him. They've  
caught him. They take him and Exit on board  
and fly off. On board, they remand Ian to a  
holding cell. Darth Plagueisies and Darth Sidiously  
along with some Imperial officers, converge at  
Ian's cell.

" _We need you to continue plans for the space  
station requested by the Empire._" Darth  
Plagueisies says.

" _I'll do no such thing._ " Says Ian.

" _Very well._ " Says Darth Plagueisies and he  
pulls Exit out in front of them so that Ian  
can see that she is their hostage and they  
will surely execute her if he doesn't comply.

" _You know what we'll do with her?_ " Darth  
Plagueisies says.

Ian looks down in defeat. " _Yes._ "

" _Ian don't listen to them, I'm just a droid.  
Let them end me, it doesn't matter…_" Exit  
is interrupted.

" _Shut up!_ " Darth Sidiously orders to her.

" _It does matter_." Blurts Ian. " _It matters to  
me Exit. You may be a droid but… I have  
feelings for you. I can't allow that to happen._"  
Ian looks up at Darth Plagueisies. " _I will do  
as you say._"

" _Good, I will arrange to have the current  
plans displayed on a screen for you. You  
can continue designing the space station  
on another computer. By the way, we've  
found your fathers plans. There's a  
blueprint for a giant weapon and  
propulsion that will go nicely on our space  
station. Adapt them to our plans._" Says  
Darth Sidiously.

Ian nods his head in defeated agreement.  
They tell Ian that he just saved her from  
being deactivated and melted down, but  
they pull her away. Ian goes to the edge  
of the holding cell which is protected not  
by bars but by a force field, Ray Shields.

He yells, " _Hurt her and you get nothing._ "

When the two screens arrive, they are  
hooked up, the blueprints to the current  
space station and his father's plans for  
a weapon and propulsion are also available.  
He has to re-construct part of the space  
station in order to adapt the advanced  
propulsion systems and weapon to the  
blueprints. He works tirelessly day in and  
day out. He finally gets the idea that they  
may have ended Exit so he calls them and  
asks to see her if he is to keep working.  
They bring her down and place her in his  
cell. She immediately runs up and hugs  
him.

" _Ian… are you all right_." She asks in a  
tearful voice.

He looks down at her, she has tears in her  
eyes. " _You… you have tears._ "

" _Yes, one droid, complete with tears and  
emotions._" She laughs in a tearful voice.

He laughs too and pulls her back hugging  
her again.

" _I told you not to give them anything, to  
let them end me._" She says.

He looks down at her. " _If they designed  
you right, you would understand that I  
could not allow them to do that._"

She smiles and looks down in defeat. " _I  
know… and I'm glad. I've been one lonely  
droid._"

" _And I've been one lonely man._ " He says  
looking down at her.

They talk for awhile. He shows her what he's  
been working on. She can see the immense deal  
of what he's designing. She knows he has no  
choice but to comply. He is brought food. She  
doesn't eat but she watches him. They sit  
together while he eats. They talk about a lot  
of things. He tells her his life story. But as  
soon as it began, it's over. Imperial officers  
come and tell them that it's time for her to  
leave. That they have ten minutes. In ten  
minutes he writes so they can't hear him  
talking, telling her of a plan to escape. He  
continues to tell her what he's been working  
on to hopefully cover the fact that he's writing  
something. There really isn't enough time but  
she, as a droid, has the ability to record  
everything. She knows it's risky and tells him  
so. He says, of course that he knows but it's  
the only way, she agrees.

Later that day Darth Plagueisies and Darth  
Sidiously come before his cell. Darth Sidiously  
uses his power over the Dark Side to lift and  
pin Ian to the back wall of the cell. Ian smashes  
into the wall and is held there. Darth Plagueisies  
uses his power over the dark side to pull the  
screens over to where he can see them and  
pulls the blueprints up. Ian watches this but  
doesn't know how he's doing that.

" _We just want to make sure that you are  
working on the plans for the space station  
and not some ulterior thing. My son has  
great power over the Dark Side does he  
not?_"

Ian can hardly breath, he squeaks out words.  
" _Yes… he seems… very powerful._ "

Darth Sidiously plasters Ian harder against  
the wall still keeping him elevated off the floor.

" _Easy my son, we don't want to kill him before  
he has completed his task._" Darth Plagueisies  
says.

Darth Sidiously lets him fall to the floor, then  
elevates him and plasters him against the wall  
again. Darth Plagueisies just watches and smiles.  
He looks the plans over, " _You've been working  
hard Dr. The Empire will thank you. Make sure  
that our engineers understand the plans so they  
can assemble it when it is complete. By the way,  
you have ten more days._"

Ian squeaks out more words. " _Ten days… is  
not… enough._"

" _Then… the droid woman will die before they  
are complete. That would be a shame, however,  
if you complete them in ten days, we will let  
her live a little longer._" Darth Plagueisies says.

Ian squeaks again, still being held against the  
wall by some unseen power. "I want to see her  
again."

" _You've seen her enough, you'll just have to  
trust that I haven't deactivated her. And Dr.  
If you think what my son is putting you  
through is painful, imagine what dying by  
my hand will be like._" Darth Plagueisies  
says as he smiles. " _Come along Darth  
Sidiously, we have other matters to attend._"

The two Sith walk off. Ian is still elevated and  
pinned against the wall. Several moments go  
by before the power holding him in place, is  
gone. He falls to the floor, out of breath and  
holding his chest. The ordeal was painful. Ian,  
being the tough man that he is, gets up,  
stumbles some, moves the screens back to  
where he had them and goes back to work.  
He works for ten days. Then he calls for Darth  
Plagueisies saying that he wants to see Exit.  
Darth Plagueisies and Darth Sidiously arrive  
before the cell with some Imperial Officers in  
tow. Darth Sidiously pins Ian up and against  
the wall again. The force field over the  
entrance to the cell is lowered. The computers  
are taken out. Exit gets pushed in and the force  
field goes back up. Exit sees Ian pinned but try  
as she may, she can't get him down.

" _They better be complete Dr. for her sake._ "  
Darth Plagueisies threatens.

Plagueisies and his entourage leave. Ian stays  
pinned a few more moments until Darth  
Sidiously lets him go. He falls to the floor  
again holding his chest. He is laying down,  
his strength zapped from him. Exit holds his  
head, she asks him if he's alright. He indicates  
that he is, that he just needs a few minutes  
to regain his composure again.

When he is revived, he asks her how they've  
been treating her. She explains that they have  
affixed a Restraining Bolt to her. She shows him.  
They simply shut her down when they don't  
need her. She'd been shut down the whole time.  
He tells her that they need to figure out how to  
remove it. There's no way without them finding  
out. The moment they try to remove the restraining  
bolt, they would be found out. He writes to throw  
them off again. She reads but acts as if she is still  
listening to him talk about what he's been doing  
and his treatment thus far. "Are you ready?" Ian  
asks Exit in writing. She nods.

A day passes, Darth Plagueisies and Darth  
Sidiously approach Ian's cell to tell him what  
their next move is and to thank him for plans  
well done.

 **15\. First And Second Escape**

But when they arrive, the cell is empty. Dr.  
Bartholomew and Exit are gone. Darth  
Plagueisies hits an alarm and announces  
ship wide that the two prisoners have escaped.  
Darth Sidiously tries to activate Exit's  
restraining bolt but it indicates that there is  
no signal. No one can seem to find them.  
Darth Plagueisies is eventually watching  
monitors from the main bridge. The  
monitors show smaller ships coming and  
going. Darth Sidiously watches also.

" _There!_ " Darth Sidiously yells, pointing at  
a ship as it flies out of one of the bays on  
the Star Destroyer.

Darth Plagueisies looks, he feels through  
the Force. He senses them on the small  
ship also. " _Stop that ship._ " He orders.

He and Darth Sidiously run down toward  
the bay but as they're running, the small  
ship gives it the gas and vamps out quickly.  
When the two Sith arrive at the bay, one of  
the Imperial officers tells them that they  
couldn't stop it, it flew off before they could  
do anything. Darth Plagueisies heads back  
out of the bay followed by Darth Sidiously.  
The Imperial officer that allowed the prisoners  
to escape suffers massive pain in his chest,  
his eyes go blood red, his head begins to  
expand, he is clearly in pain. When he is  
finally released from the bonds of the Dark  
Side he falls over and dies on the bay floor  
still somewhat distorted from the exercise.

Ian and Exit are running like mad. The plan  
worked, they fooled the prison guards and  
were able to steal aboard a small freighter  
ship. When the ship lands Ian and Exit wait  
for awhile before they come out of hiding.  
The ship is empty, the pilots and crew are  
gone. Ian looks out the windows of both  
sides of the ship but sees nothing. He  
opens the ships hatch and starts out.

A sound erupts from outside the ship. Ian  
falls from the hatch to the floor of the ship  
unconscious. Exit is shocked, she kneels  
down and checks Ian to see if he's still alive.  
He is, she looks out the hatch herself. Imperial  
Soldiers are waiting for them. One of the  
soldiers presses a button on what looks like  
some sort of remote, it makes a buzzing  
noise much like the one the Jawa's used to  
shut down R2 with a restraining bolt in the  
very first movie.

This time, when Ian comes to, Exit is nowhere  
in sight and he is shackled to a bulkhead in a  
less kept holding cell. The smell around him  
is profuse. He groggily looks at the shackles  
and the chains holding him. Later that day  
an Imperial Officer comes to him and throws  
what might be food, at his feet.

" _Today you will be moved to the ship works  
where you will assist in building. The Empire  
has no further need for you. The droid girl will  
be deactivated but not until you can witness  
it yourself._" Says the officer.

Ian just sits and looks down in defeat. The  
next day, several Imperial Soldiers lift him  
up, remove his shackles from the bulkhead  
and force him to carry the heavy shackles  
to the ship works where he is chained down  
again, handed a laser welder and ordered to  
get to work. He looks around the room. Ships  
are being built all over. He notices all the  
misery. He looks at his situation, other slaves  
or forced labor work building things according  
to master ship builders who are dressed in  
Imperial garb. Ian begins to work barely able  
to hold himself up. Weakened from beatings  
and lack of food. No sign of Exit anywhere.  
Surely she must be deactivated or worse. He  
continues to work.

One day, a Sith, unknown, and some Imperial  
officers approach Ian. The Sith addresses him.  
He looks up, dirty, sweaty, defeated and smelly.  
The Sith asks him if he is Dr. Bartholomew. Ian  
answers yes. The Sith tells him that the Empire  
needs probes. Probes that will hunt space near  
Geonosis, be undetectable, be self sustaining  
and have the ability to destroy any ships that  
come close that are not Empire. The Sith asks  
him if he can build something like that. He  
tells the Sith that he can do it easily but he  
has to design it on paper first. The Sith agrees,  
they release him and put him in a dark room  
where there are keyboards and monitors. He  
is to use these computers to design the probes.  
The Empire wants three of them. Powerful  
enough to encircle the planet, communicate  
with each other and with surface security.

Ian goes to work. He's hungry and thirsty. He  
inquires about food and drink assuming  
someone can hear him. Moments later the  
door to the room opens and a tray of food  
and drink are set on the floor. They give  
him ten minutes to eat. He eats. A while  
later the food has given him some revitalization.  
They take the recently eaten tray away and  
leave. He tries the door just for grins. It's  
unlocked. Surely someone will see this, come  
and lock it. No one does. He opens it again a  
peaks out. No one around. He steps out and  
proceeds to a landing platform. No one is  
guarding the platform. He steps through the  
entrance to the platform. He looks around.  
There are plenty of ships and no one seems  
the wiser about his presents. He steps back  
through. There is a computer terminal across  
the corridor from where he's standing. He looks  
around, people walk past but no one seems to  
recognize him as a prisoner. He walks up to the  
terminal and tries to use it. It is protected by a  
sensor. Being the brilliant man that he is, he  
enters something into the keyboard. The  
computer comes to life and gives him access.  
Just out of curiosity he starts to look for Exit.  
First he types in her name. Exit and entrance  
points around the Star Destroyer are listed with  
an aerial view of the ships layout. Not what he's  
looking for. Then he types in a search for droids.  
This time he hits pay dirt. There is a list of droids  
on board the ship and Exit's name is on it. He  
clicks her name and an explanation of her  
current condition comes up.

" _Functioning – Shutdown – available – Clerical –  
Male companionship._"

" _Male companionship, what does that mean?_ "  
He clicks on it. It's what he was afraid of. Basically  
if one of the officers on board needs female  
companionship, she can be activated. Ian can't  
let that be. He looks at the rest of the report on  
her. She's in a droid holding room, 2, 11-D.  
Second floor, room 11-D. He finds an elevator.  
He enters and goes to the second floor. He  
comes out of the elevator, people walks by  
but again, no one seems to recognize him as  
a prisoner. He begins searching for the room.  
He finds it, there's an automatic door that will  
only open with a specific pass, he wonders.  
Just about that time, someone walks up and  
asks him to move, they're polite. He moves  
and the person opens the door to the room.  
They step inside, Ian steps in after them. The  
room is massive. There are droids everywhere.  
Some hanging from hooks of some sort, others  
stuffed in boxes and still others standing, inert,  
but not collapsing. He looks around, there are  
hundreds, no way for him to find her easily.

An alarm sounds, "Prisoner Escape, Prisoner  
Escape" comes the announcement over the  
loud speaker, Ian hurries. He sees another  
computer terminal near him in the room. He  
accesses it and searches for Exit. He finds her  
and pushes a touch screen button next to her  
name. The droids on the hooks begin to move  
like clothes on a dry cleaning conveyor. He  
sees her, she is hung up like a doll, lifeless  
and looking quite shut down. He examines  
the hook, no big deal, he releases her and  
brings her down to the floor. Behind her head  
is a small access panel. He opens it and turns  
her on. She comes to life.

" _Ian… how did you._ " He cuts her off.

" _Shhhh… we have to leave now, that alarm  
is for us._" He says quietly but frantically.

She gets up under her own power. He takes her  
hand and they leave the room. They make their  
way to the elevator, then to the landing platform.  
They begin to look for a ship. They are all accessible  
but can't be activated without a pass so they just  
pick one. Ian knows his way around the pass key  
issue. Before long, they are detected. The room is  
cleared out. Several imperial officers enter the room  
and begin firing on the ship. Its outer hull is too  
dense for standard blasters. Ian activates the ship.  
He elevates it, turns it on the officers and begins to  
fire its weapons destroying or killing everything in  
its path. He is able to fly the ship around the room  
but there's no way out of the bay. He aims the  
weapons at the wall and fires opening a gaping  
hole in the side if the vessel. Ian flies out. Several  
of the officers and Imperial Droids are sucked out  
into space before the invisible shield blocks the  
opening. He immediately gets on a comm.. and  
calls for help. He checks his instruments, he is  
being followed by several ships, he assumes  
they must be Imperial. He guns the ship, it  
has Hyper-drive capability so he enters  
something into the computer and makes the  
jump. They're safe for the moment. Then,  
suddenly, the ship shuts down. All of its  
electronics and propulsion systems quit. The  
ship drops out of light speed and floats helplessly  
in space. He figures their caught again and  
apologizes to Exit. She isn't listening to him.  
She sees something out of the front window  
of the ship they're on. Other ships, different,  
are coming toward them. The ships pull up  
next to them, one of them attaches. The  
hatch is opened. Several men come out.

" _Who are you?_ " They ask Ian.

" _I'm Ian Bartholomew, this is Exit._ " He answers.

" _Are you running from the Empire?_ " They ask.

" _Yes._ " He answers.

They usher Ian and Exit onto their ship. The  
hatch closes, they detach and begin to run  
for it. But there are only two of them. The  
pilot of the ship they're on, calls on the  
comm.. system for assistance. The Imperial  
ships follow and fire on them. They fire back.  
They identify themselves as Rebel Alliance.  
Ian has heard of them and knows they're  
the good guys.

He re-assures Exit, " _It's ok, these guys are  
part of the Coup attempting to fight against  
the Empire. I've heard about them._"

She lets out a sigh of relief. But the trouble  
isn't over, the pilot detects several Star  
Destroyers bearing down on them. The  
other ship that was with them explodes  
right next to them. The ship they're on  
is being tractored in. One of the men  
aboard the ship asks who they are while  
opening a comm.. to the rebel location.  
Ian explains who he is, telling them that  
he is the one who designed many of the  
ships the Empire is using including the  
Star Destroyer that is tractoring them  
in but communications are cut off. Part  
of the protocol that accompanies the  
tractor beam.

One of the Jedy hears the call for help but  
is unable to communicate back. He  
dispatches several ships to the area  
but it will take time for them to get  
there. Yodi enters the room.

" _Found something, what have you?_ " Yodi  
asks.

" _We had a transmission from one of our  
scout ships but our instruments indicate  
that their communications were cut off.  
They were being pursued by Imperial Star  
Destroyers. One of the Alliance ships was  
destroyed shortly before the rescue._" The  
Jedy answers.

" _Their cargo, what was it?_ " Yodi asks.

" _Two passengers, a droid by the name of  
Exit and a human by the name of Ian  
Bartholomew._" The Jedy answers.

" _Ian Bartholomew!_ " Yodi repeats. " _Who  
this person is, we must find out._"

" _Yes master._ " The Jedy answers.

" _Find these Star destroyers we must. Dr.  
Bartholomew an important man he may  
be._" Yodi issues.

The Alliance ship enters the bay of the Star  
destroyer, the hatch opens. Exit runs out  
to try to reason with them. Ian calls out to  
her but it's too late. Imperial officers and  
Imperial Droids that have entered the bay  
fire their blasters at her, several hit her. She  
is a droid and doesn't go down right away  
but she eventually goes down. Ian is beside  
himself with grief and slumps. The pilot and  
other Alliance soldiers are executed, the  
ship is sent back into space and destroyed.  
Ian won't go willingly so they have to drag  
him. The Imperial Droids are strong and carry  
him without a problem. He can only feel as  
they drag him before someone. He doesn't  
look up but someone instructs them as to  
what to do with him. Ian doesn't hear but  
he is carried back to the ship works, shackled,  
beaten, given a laser welder, beaten again  
and told to get to work. Later one of the  
Imperial officers comes to him. He drops  
printed blueprints in front of Ian.

" _These are the blueprints for the probes  
that you were designing?_" He asks.

Ian looks at the officer, then looks down  
at the blueprints. He picks one up and looks  
at it. " _They are._ " Says Ian but beaten and  
defeated.

" _Start building them._ " The officer orders.

" _These blueprints are not finished._ " Says Ian.

" _Then build the probes without blueprints,  
and they better be good or you will suffer_!"  
Says the officer.

The officer leaves. The laborers around Ian  
that were watching, all go back to work. Ian  
picks up the blueprints. A master ship builder  
dressed in Imperial garb comes up to him.  
" _What do you need?_ "

Ian begins constructing the probes. After he  
builds the second one he throws the welder  
down and yells to the ship builder. " _Where  
is my droid. I won't do any more until I  
have my droid._"

Several Imperial officers surround him and  
start to beat him. After a few minutes, they  
stop. He is all but unconscious. The officers  
step back. Someone kneels down beside him.  
" _Ian, what have they done to you?_ " Exit asks.

Ian looks up at her. He's on his last legs. " _They  
repaired you._"

" _Yes._ " Exit says.

Ian detects that something is different about  
her but he's too tired and withdrawn to figure  
it out. Darth Plagueisies is asking about Ian.  
He tells the other officers in the room that  
somehow he must be made to continue the  
design to the space station. Darth Plagueisies  
asks what he's working on now. One of the  
officers tells him that the Dr. is building three  
armed probes to put in space around Geonosis.  
Darth Plagueisies asks how it is that he's doing  
this. One of the officers explains that another  
Sith requested this and that they had him  
beaten. He's tried to escape twice.

Darth Plagueisies gets angry and asks why the  
Dr. is not continuing his work on the plans for  
the Space station. The Sith then asks them if  
they know anything else about him. They  
explain that his girlfriend is a droid woman  
who has had her thoughts altered so they  
can get information from him concerning  
the location of the Resistance and they have  
implanted a listening device in her that will  
allow them to listen in on his conversations  
in case he divulges more about the design  
of the space station or tries to escape again.  
Darth Plagueisies then tells them to threaten  
him if he doesn't comply. One of the officers  
suggests that they simply program the girl  
to get the information out of him. The Sith  
Lord agrees.

One of the probes is finished and is jettisoned  
out into space to begin guarding the Empires  
efforts. The probe is actuated and does more  
than they expected. It has powerful weapons,  
only the Empire can track it.

It detects a couple of ships flying into Imperial  
space. Freighter ships, not of the Imperial call  
sign. The freighter ships don't detect it as per  
what the Imperial's requested. The probe locks  
on to one of the ships, fires and destroys it.  
Before the other two freighter ships can figure  
out what is going on the probe locks on, fires  
and destroys the other two.

The Empire loves it. The Dr. may be a prisoner  
but he's true to his word, he has never built  
or designed a bad ship.

Several of the Imperial officers and Darth  
Sidiously come to his cell. The Dr. sees Darth  
Sidiously and as soon as he does, Darth  
Sidiously uses the Force to lift and slam the  
Dr. against the back wall. The officers explain  
that he will be tasked with finishing the other  
two probes and taking time to finish the designs  
for the Space Station or be tortured. He  
painfully agrees. They leave, and again after  
several moments, the power of the Force is  
relieved and the Dr. drops to the floor. Holding  
his chest, he sits for a moment to regain his  
senses.

Exit is allowed to stay in the cell with him  
and runs to his side feigning to be concerned  
about him.

" _Tell me what to enter into the computer  
for the Space Station and I will help you._"  
Exit says.

He agrees thinking that she could in fact  
speed up the process allowing him to finish  
the probes and finish the plans for the  
space station in a fair amount of time.  
So, as he works on the second of the  
three probes, he verbally tells Exit what  
to enter into the computer as he works.  
If they see that he's making an effort,  
they might leave him alone.

One of the Jedy comes to Yodi several days  
later.

" _We may have determined the identity of  
the Dr. that the Empire was so interested  
in._" Says the Jedy.

" _Listening, I am._ " Says Yodi.

" _We believe he was the master ship builder  
for the Corellian's. A superior ship-builder  
unlike any known thus far, we believe the  
Empire has captured him in an effort to  
have him design ships exclusively for them._"  
Says the Jedy.

" _Disconcerting this is, planning something  
big they might be._" Says Yodi thinking. " _Find  
out where they are holding him we mus_t."

" _Several ships have been destroyed around  
the planet Geonosis and no one seems to be  
able to tell what it is that is destroying them._"  
Adds the Jedy.

" _Something un-detectable, they must have,  
go to this planet and investigate we must.  
Find the answers we are looking for perhaps._"  
Says Yodi.

" _Yes master._ " Says the Jedy, he stops and  
finishes a thought. " _Master, I believe we  
have detected an Imperial presents in the  
area of this planet._"

" _Show me._ " Yodi orders.

" _Come with me master._ " The Jedy says.

After several days the Empire releases Dr.  
Bartholomew and allows him some time in  
an apartment. Exit is with him. He showers,  
she surprises him and climbs into the shower  
with him. They make love (But it's only implied).  
As they shower together she asks him something  
strange.

" _Are there things you're not telling the Empire?_ "  
She asks.

Ian is surprised by the question, " _I… why do you  
ask?_"

"I just… want to know what you know, I don't  
want us to keep secrets from each other." She  
answers.

Ian thinks, " _Are you working for the Empire?_ "

" _Of Course not._ " She answers.

" _But if we're not keeping secrets from each  
other you should tell me if you are._" He says.

She thinks, " _I… well I… No I'm not. I'm not  
working for the Empire._"

Ian knows that a natural human response  
psychologically is to deny something but in  
a hesitant way. He knows that this is most  
likely a lie. He smiles at her. He reaches up  
to the back of her head and tries to shut  
her down.

" _Dr."_ She says, _"Are you trying to shut me  
down? Don't you believe me?_"

Ian knows another spot where she can be  
shut down. A secret spot that only droid  
designers know about. It's a spot just below  
her shoulder blade in back. It must be pressed  
hard. Ian feels for it.

" _Dr. you don't have to press so…_ " She  
cuts off mid sentence. She drops in his arms.

He carries her out of the shower. Dries himself  
off and lays her down on the bed face down.  
She is naked but since she is a droid, he really  
doesn't pay attention to the fact that she is  
really quite shapely and vulnerable. Very  
woman like.

Ian knows a lot about droids and is able to  
access a panel behind her head that reveals  
her computer brain. He removes certain  
parts, digging down to her conditioned  
processing. All he sees is electronics but he  
knows what he's looking for. He looks  
around the apartment. There is nothing  
obvious as far as electronics are concerned.  
There is an electronic panel housing the  
electronics for the door. He knows that  
there must be a conduit to a computer  
somewhere that allows the doors to open,  
lock and unlock the door automatically  
from a different location on the ship. Ian  
is clever, he looks around for something  
to use to open the access panel. There  
is food in metal containers. He grabs one  
of the containers, eats some of the food  
out of it quickly, washes it out and uses  
it to pry the cover to the access panel  
open. He recognizes the wire that is  
probably attached to a computer  
somewhere. He pulls on it, it's long  
enough. He knows where to hook it  
to Exits computer brain.

Her mouth serves as a communication  
device. He does something else to get  
her talking. She speaks in machine  
language but Ian understands it. The  
sub caption says, " _Girl, white female,  
190 lbs, 30 years of age, name – Exit,  
purpose, clerical, capability – clerical,  
conditioning… change in Data, conditioning,  
relay back to Empire, purpose, knowledge  
of prisoners intentions, computer data link,  
detention block authorization…_"

Ian knows what that means, " _computer data  
link, detention block authorization_." It means  
he's been found out. No sooner does he begin  
to put her back together does his apartment  
door open! Imperial Droids and Imperial officers  
run in, zap him with something that knocks him  
out and drag him out of the apartment.

When he awakes he is back in the ship-works,  
chained down in front of his most recent project  
the space probes. He groggily reaches for a tool  
and begins to work. In the back of his mind he  
knows he'll probably never see Exit again but  
he's too tired and beaten to show any emotion.

Darth Plagueisies and the younger Darth  
Sidiously come in and stand before him in  
the ship-works. He slowly turns to see who's  
watching him. As soon as he sees Darth  
Sidiously, his eyes go wide. Darth Sidiously  
uses the Force to again, smash him to the  
ceiling of the room. Ian is still chained down  
so to add to the pain of being smashed to  
the ceiling, his leg where the shackle is  
attached is pulled in an odd direction. He  
cries out in pain.

" _Dr. it looks as if you are about to finish the  
second probe._" Darth Plagueisies says with  
a deviate smile on his face. Ian looks at Darth  
Sidiously and he is slammed against the ceiling  
again, pulling on his shacked leg even more.

Ian answers through the pain, " _Yes, and I've  
begun working on the third one._"

" _Good… that is very good. And we have had  
our own engineers and scientists go over  
your blueprints for the space station. You  
have done great work. They were able to  
complete the plans._" Says Darth Plagueisies.  
Not knowing that Ian has built an un-noticeable  
defect in it. Ian hoped that someone would  
eventually uncover it. Ian knew that Darth  
Plagueisies thought that he had finally out-  
smarted the Dr. But that was hard to do, even  
for the smartest of beings. As they began to  
leave, Darth Sidiously rammed the Dr. around  
before letting him drop twenty feet to the floor.

Darth Sidiously was older now. Darth Plagueisies  
had taught the younger Sith all he knew about  
the force. All he knew except how to bring  
someone back to life. Darth Sidiously knew this,  
which made him even angrier at Darth Plagueisies  
withholding this secret in addition to his mother  
being gotten rid of. Darth Sidiously was an ace  
with the Light Saber and had become very  
powerful with the Dark Side of the Force.

One day Darth Plagueisies came into the room.

" _You are going to be given your own ship my  
son._" Said Darth Plagueisies.

" _Then will I be in charge of the fleet?_ " Darth  
Sidiously asks.

" _No… for now, you will only be in charge  
of the ship you are assigned to. I will remain  
in charge of the fleet and the Empire._" Answers  
Darth Plagueisies.

Darth Sidiously was again angered by this.

Darth Plagueisies responds, " _I sense that  
you are angered by this?_"

" _I… I…_ " Darth Sidiously tries to think of  
something to throw him off but then Darth  
Plagueisies reveals more.

" _I have sensed for some time that you are  
angry at me. I began to sense it when I cast  
your mother out as a slave on Tatooine._"

Darth Sidiously drops his head in shame, " _Yes…  
yes father, I… I have been angry at you because  
of that._"

" _Be cautious of your feelings young man, they  
could be used against you._" Darth Plagueisies  
adds.

Darth Sidiously agrees but un-known to Darth  
Plagueisies, Darth Sidiously has become so  
powerful with the Dark Side that the feelings  
that Darth Plagueisies sensed were fed to him  
on purpose. Darth Plagueisies actually had no  
knowledge of this ruse. So Darth Sidiously  
thought.

Days went by, eventually Darth Sidiously was  
moved to a new, more advanced Star  
Destroyer in the Imperial fleet. He was  
introduced to the Imperial officers just  
below him in rank but in charge of that  
ship. They planned and were given orders  
to take the new Star Destroyer around  
space to test its abilities. Dr. Bartholomew  
had been moved to that ship also. The Star  
Destroyer, followed by other Star Destroyers  
in the Imperial Fleet were at light speed  
headed toward a specific planet for testing.  
When the fleet came out of light speed near  
the planet, the Rebel Alliance was waiting for them.

The Alliance ships began firing at once. The Imperial  
Fleet was caught off guard. Darth Sidiously seemed  
eerily calm at the on-set of this attack. The Rebel  
fleet was inflicting severe damage. Darth Plagues  
sensed this and marshaled his own ship to rush to  
the region.

Jedy used smaller ships to get into the Imperial ships.  
Thicker hulls made getting aboard the new Star  
Destroyer more difficult but it didn't stop them.  
Darth Sidiously sat in his own chambers while the  
rest of the Imperial's and Imperial Droids fought off  
the Rebels. If the Rebels got too close, Darth Sidiously  
knew it and was able to fight them off using the  
Dark-Side. Of course the Jedy were different and  
were able to access Darth Sidiously' chambers. But  
Darth Sidiously was too good. When the Jedy entered,  
he drew his Light Saber and brought them down fairly  
easily. The attack went on for some time. Darth  
Plagueisies' ship eventually arrived. Darth Plagueisies,  
escorted by a group of Tie Fighters, was flown in his  
shuttle to Darth Sidiously' Destroyer ship.

This was what Darth Sidiously was waiting for. When  
he sensed that Darth Plagueisies was on board, he  
began to use the Dark-Side to ward off each of the  
men in Darth Plagueisies' entourage. Some of them  
are dashed against a wall or lifted high before being  
dropped, most of them are skewered by tools laying  
around the bay. They fall dead in the bay where  
Darth Plagueisies' shuttle had landed.

Darth Plagueisies saw this happening and knew  
that Darth Sidiously was behind it all. Darth  
Plagueisies and some of his entourage entered  
a corridor and began to head up to Darth Sidiously  
quarters. Darth Sidiously was so good, that all of  
the men in the entourage were dead by the time  
the few remaining, reached the entrance to the  
younger Sith's room, cooked to a crisp. Darth  
Plagueisies looked around him. All his men were  
dead.

He smiled an evil smile believing that he was  
still more powerful than Darth Sidiously. But  
when Darth Plagueisies tried to open the  
entrance to the room, Darth Sidiously used  
the Force to bar his entrance. Darth Plagueisies  
used more power from the Dark Side to open  
the door. Darth Sidiously prevented it. Darth  
Plagueisies tried using his power to bring things  
attached to the ceiling inside the room, down  
on Darth Sidiously. Darth Sidiously saw this  
in time and prevented it. The two used their  
powers over the Dark Side to try to injure or  
kill each other but as Darth Plagueisies tried  
one thing, Darth Sidiously was able to one-up  
him. Eventually Darth Sidiously was able to  
command the Dark Side to carry Darth Plagues  
to a different area of the Star Destroyer.

While all this was taking place, the Jedy and  
the Rebels were attacking other parts of the  
ship. They made their way to the Ship Works  
battling as they went. Even if the people or  
species working in the Ship Works who didn't  
like the Empire, fought against the Rebels.  
The Rebels were crack and were able to thwart  
most of the Imperial workers. The Jedy and  
Rebels worked their way through the room,  
cutting people down or destroying things that  
they worked on. Dr. Bartholomew was hiding  
behind his second creation. One of the Imperial  
leaders caught up with the Dr. and made him  
Jettison the second probe during the scuffle. The  
probe left the Star Destroyer and immediately  
began fighting against the Rebel ships. The leader  
then told the Dr. to continue to work on the third  
probe. As the fighting went on around him he  
tried to work. Light Sabers were flailing. The  
Imperial officer that was giving him orders was  
eventually cut down. A Jedy used the Force and  
leaped thirty or so feet to where the probes were.  
When he landed, he used his Light Saber to cut  
up the third probe. In the process the Jedy cut  
the chain holding the Dr. in place. The Jedy was  
about to kill the Dr. realizing that the Dr. had  
been freed. The Dr. winced, ducking down  
thinking that this was the end. While the  
fighting went on around him, he realized  
that the Jedy was gone and he was still alive.  
The Dr. seized the opportunity and dashed out  
of the room. There was still some fighting going  
on in the corridor outside the Ship Works bay  
but not nearly as much. The Dr. accessed a  
nearby computer terminal. He discovered  
where Exit was.

 **16\. Light Saber Acquired**

While he covertly moved through each of  
the corridors he would come upon Rebel  
Soldiers lying dead. He eventually came  
upon a Jedy that had been killed. His Light  
Saber was still lying next to him. Ian  
picked it up and ignited it. Still working,  
he continues to advance through the  
corridors to find Exit.

Darth Plagueisies is also moving through  
the corridors watching every step, as if  
he were a cat on the prowl. As he turns  
a corner Ian comes out of nowhere and  
slashes at Darth Plagueisies. Darth Plagueisies  
with his Sith senses blocks Ian's attack  
with his own Light Saber. Ian is strong  
and his slash was enough to knock Darth  
Plagueisies down. Ian swings the Light Saber  
several more times but his efforts are all  
blocked by Darth Plagueisies. Darth Plagueisies  
then puts his left palm forward, fingers spread  
sending Ian flying backwards through the air.  
Ian crashes through an access to another corridor.  
When Darth Plagueisies comes through the  
access, Ian is gone. Ian tries another attack  
coming out of hiding, slashing at Darth Plagueisies  
with the Light Saber. Darth Plagueisies blocks  
it again, fans out his hand and pushes Ian  
back and through the air. Ian lands hard about  
half way down a corridor. He gets up as quick  
as he can but Darth Plagueisies, powerful with  
the Dark Side, brings walls, floor and ceiling  
together, imploding them in front of Ian,  
blocking his way. Ian tries to run the other  
way but Darth Plagueisies does the same  
thing behind Ian now trapping him in. Ian  
doesn't wait, he uses the Light Saber to  
cut through the wreckage behind him  
and makes a run for it. He's pretty smart  
this time. He enters a room, it is dark and  
full of computers and other machines. He  
hides behind some further into the room.  
Darth Plagueisies enters the room.

" _I know you're in here Dr. I'll find you  
and kill you._" Says Darth Plagueisies with  
his warped smile as he carefully dances  
through the room.

Ian is waiting for him. When Darth  
Plagueisies is near him, Ian lunges at  
him with the Light Saber! Darth  
Plagueisies dodges one of his attempts  
and blocks his other attempt again but  
this time, knocking the Light Saber out  
of Ian's hands. Ian takes advantage of  
his opponents back swing and jumps on  
him tackling him to the floor. They  
struggle a moment rolling around but  
eventually Darth Plagueisies with strength  
through the Dark Side, throws Ian off,  
tossing him like a tissue through the air.  
Ian crash lands and is stunned. Darth  
Plagueisies is on his feet, Light Saber  
ignited, coming toward Ian ready to cut  
him to pieces. Just as Darth Plagueisies  
swings down at Ian, his thrust is blocked  
by another Light Saber, it's Yodi.

" _A long time have I been waiting for this._ "  
Yodi says as he takes advantage of Darth  
Plagueisies' surprise.

Darth Plagueisies begins to fight Yodi, dueling  
with Light Sabers. Yodi is the best and makes  
Darth Plagueisies work hard for his life.

Ian figures he can't help Yodi so he takes off  
to find Exit.

When he arrives at the Droid Storage room  
and enters he sees that another droid was  
disassembling them. The Dr. Enters but the  
disassembling droid begins to fight against  
him. The droid has a blaster. The Dr. is able  
to duck out of the way just in time. The  
blaster shots burned into the bulkhead  
but missed him. The droid was big and  
the Dr. could hear him as he clanked along  
the floor in pursuit. The Dr. had nowhere to  
hide at that point. The large droid stood next  
to the bulkhead that the Dr. was hiding  
behind, looked over, saw the Dr. crouched  
down, raised the blaster over the bulkhead  
and pointed it at Ian. Ian was sure this was  
the end again but just as the droid was about  
to pull the trigger a bright light flashes back  
and forth several times and the droid falls  
down around him in pieces. A Jedy, of a  
different species, looks over at the Dr. The  
Dr. looks up at the Jedy.

" _If that droid was trying to kill you then  
you must be on our side._" Said the Jedy.

" _Yes._ " Answered the Dr. " _I am Dr. Ian  
Bartholomew._"

The Jedy looked surprised. " _We were told  
about you. We were told that if we found  
you that we should get you to one of the  
Rebel ships immediately._"

" _Really?_ " The Dr. asked.

" _Yes, although none of us assumed you  
would be here._" Said the Jedy. " _Why are  
you here?_"

The Dr. had to think and at the same  
time, comes to the realization that,  
" _The… Empire… was using me to  
design and build for them._"

" _I see._ " Said the Jedy. " _You must be very  
good._"

" _I… guess I am._ "

" _Come with me!_ " The Jedy ordered frantically.

The Dr. began to follow him out but then  
stopped. The Jedy was surprised and urged  
him to hurry. The Dr. told the Jedy to wait,  
he ran to the bunch of droids set for  
destruction and found Exit. The Jedy  
looked at the Dr. like, "Really?"

The two ran out, Exit over the Dr's.  
shoulder. The Jedy was great. It seemed  
as if they were all but dead as Imperial  
Soldiers and Imperial Droids fired at them.  
The Jedy used his Light Saber to deflect  
the shots, some of which he deflected  
back at those who fired them or engaged  
them in hand to hand taking them down  
easily. The two ran down different corridors.  
The Jedy used his Force attuned senses to  
see attacks before they happened, cutting  
down their attackers as the two moved  
along.

They neared where a Rebel ship had been  
attached. They were almost there when a  
Sith came out of nowhere and cut the Jedy  
down. Men from the Rebel ship fired at the  
Sith. The Sith was able to deflect the shots  
but the Rebels were able to close their hatch  
and detach from the Star Destroyer. Ian hung  
on and was able to see the Sith pulled out  
into space through a vacuum that was  
created when the Rebel ship released and  
left a gaping hole. Shields eventually covered  
the hole and the vacuum stopped. The Dr.  
was alone with Exit's lifeless body next to him.  
He picked her up and began running in the  
other direction.

 **17\. Immaculate Conception**

Darth Plagueisies gets up and walks out of  
the dark room of the Star Destroyer. Yodi  
left him, he assumed, to attend to another  
situation. But he is now in another area of  
the ship altogether. He picks himself up and  
begins to cautiously look around. He wasn't  
smiling, he was attuned and concerned. He  
enters another dark room. The room is quiet.  
He has his Light Saber out and moves slowly  
looking for a way out. Then a voice came,  
Darth Plagueisies wasn't able to detect  
where it was coming from but he knew who  
it was coming from.

" _My mother._ " The voice of Darth Sidiously  
announced.

" _Yes, your mother._ " Darth Plagueisies  
responded.

" _I… needed her._ " The voice uttered.

Darth Plagueisies has continued to keep  
his guard up as he cautiously proceeds  
through the room. " _A Sith… has no  
need of a mother._"

" _I guess that is true._ " The voice uttered.

" _Then what is the problem. Why try to  
kill me?_" Darth Plagueisies asked the air.

No answer came for a moment. " _She… she  
was human, a human mother is different  
from a Sith mother._"

" _Yes, I would assume so._ " Darth Plagueisies  
responds.

" _Yes, I became… attached to her._ " Darth  
Sidiously's voice emits.

" _Forgive me, I did not know._ " Darth Plagueisies  
responds still trying to use the Dark Side to sense  
the young Sith.

Darth Sidiously senses that he's lying but doesn't  
acknowledge it. " _You know, Sith never show  
forgiveness._" The voice utters.

Darth Plagueisies continues to search. " _Then…  
you must kill me._" He says assuming that he  
will eventually prevail and Darth Sidiously will  
accidentally reveal himself.

" _I know you think you are more powerful  
than me but you taught me too much.  
Now I want to kill you and I will rule  
over the Empire._" Says the voice.

" _Maybe_." Says Darth Plagueisies

" _You will not find me… father. But I know  
where you are._" Says the voice

" _I am… older… and wiser. You cannot hope  
to defend against me. Soon I will find you  
and I will strike you down._" Darth Plagueisies  
says.

" _Strike me down, aren't you my father, fathers  
don't kill their sons_." Says the voice.

" _You were right, I taught you too well. And  
Sith fathers only kill their sons if their sons  
try to take over._"

" _So you admit it father?_ " Says the voice.

Darth Plagueisies continue to search carefully,  
and with much confidence. " _That you are  
more powerful than me, I have admitted  
nothing._"

" _Are Sith son's supposed to be attached to  
their mothers?_"

" _Not usually. I will find you… my son_ " Says  
Darth Plagueisies as he continues to search.

But it wouldn't be so. Darth Sidiouslyly uses  
the Force to lift Darth Plagueisies off the  
floor. Darth Plagueisies uses his power to  
bring himself back down but this is simply  
a ruse by Darth Sidiouslyly to make his  
father think that his father's power is  
greater. To Darth Plagueisies' dismay,  
Darth Sidiouslyly lifts him again. This  
time Darth Plagueisies is unable to fight  
against it. In signature style, Darth  
Sidiouslyly smashed him against a rafter  
high in the room. He then uses the  
Force to dash Darth Plagueisies around  
and smashes him into other things.  
Finally Darth Plagueisies falls to the  
floor. Just as soon as that happens,  
large objects detach from their places  
on the walls and begin falling on him,  
pummeling him almost to death.

Darth Sidiously clears the wreckage away  
and lifts his father, the embattled Sith up  
again. This time Darth Plagueisies is slowly  
raised to where he can see his son Darth  
Sidiously. The young Sith is perched high  
above on a walkway of sorts. He brings  
Darth Plagueisies closer, but still elevating  
him far off the ground.

 _"I just wanted a father… to learn from._ "  
Says Darth Sidiously writhing in mental pain.

" _But I am your father my son."_ Plagueisies  
says, near death.

" _So you say, now you will not only die but  
you will relinquish command over to me._"  
Says Darth Sidiously as his father levitates  
before him.

" _I can help you son. I can teach you more._ "  
Says Darth Plagueisies in another effort to  
sway his son.

Darth Sidiously pulls his Light Saber, ignites  
it. Darth Plagueisies' eyes close as he reaches  
one more time into the Dark Side. His head  
rolls back and he goes into a trance. He sends  
something through the Dark Side but even  
Darth Sidiously does not know what. Darth  
Plagueisies has entered the deepest part of  
the Force. His appearance is changing, growing  
grotesque, only he has the ability to probe that  
deep.

On the planet of Tatooine, Shmee is walking  
down a street. Cut back to Darth Plagueisies,  
still in a trance. Cut back to Shmee walking,  
she stops. Others around her notice her. She  
has a concerned look on her face. Cut back to  
Darth Plagueisies in a trance but shaking now  
and changing even more, in appearance. Cut  
back to Shmee. She grabs hold of her stomach  
and winces in pain. Some people come to her  
side. Cut back to Darth Plagueisies, in a trance,  
shaking, he jumps. Cut back to Shmee, she cries  
out in pain, drops what she's carrying and drops  
to her knees, holding her stomach. Those around  
her react. Cut back to Darth Plagueisies, still in  
the trance, he is shaking. Cut back to Shmee.  
She cries out again in pain, this time she passes  
out.

Cut back to Darth Sidiously, " _What did you do  
father?_" Darth Sidiously asks in a determined,  
angry voice.

" _Ask you mother?_ " Darth Plagueisies ends in  
an eerie victim's voice who knows his end is  
near.

Darth Sidiously slashes downward cutting his  
father in two. Tears come from the young Sith's  
eyes as he releases the hold on his father. The  
two halves drop to the floor far below. Darth  
Sidiously is now the supreme leader of the  
Empire.

On Tatooine, Shmee wakes up in a medical  
facility, very limited in its capabilities since  
slaves do not get good medical services.  
She looks up from her lying position, naked  
but under a sheet. The doctor looks down at  
her.

" _I am Doctor **Liam Kenzee**. I apologize, as  
slaves we are not given much so there isn't  
much I can do for you._" The doctor says.

" _What happened to me?_ " Shmee asks.

" _You past out in the market area this  
morning. People brought you here._" The  
Doctor answers.

" _Do you know why I passed out?_ "

" _No other than to say that I'm sure it  
had something to do with your baby._"

" _Baby?_ " She asks.

" _Yes, surely you knew you were pregnant?_ "

She thinks for a second, then looks at him.  
" _That would be impossible._ "

He laughs a little, " _When you are with someone,  
that can happen._"

She thinks again, " _But I… I was not with  
anyone._"

He laughs a little again, " _That's what they  
all say._"

She ignores his comment. She thinks, then  
she looks at the doctor. " _Can I leave_?"

" _I don't see why not, there is nothing I  
can do for you. If you feel well enough,  
you may leave._"

She gets up, puts on what clothes she  
was wearing and heads out the door. When  
she gets outside, she walks a little further  
and eventually arrives at her apartment. She  
walks in. Her slave owner, Watoo is waiting  
for her.

" _Well, did you get what I asked for?_ " Watto  
asks.

She sits and thinks. " _No… I…_ "

" _NO? That is not like you Shmee, what  
happened?_"

She thinks, " _I… I was caught ill._ "

" _Ill?_ "

She looks at him, "Y _es, some people  
took me to the doctor._"

" _A doctor, what is wrong with you?_ " Watto  
asks.

Shock comes over her face as she slowly  
looks up at him, " _Somehow… somehow I  
am… pregnant._"

" _ **Pregnant** , I have known your every-where-  
abouts for years now, you have not been…  
with… anyone._"

She looks at him. " _No one!_ "

Now Darth Sidiously is in charge. He makes  
that clear to everyone in the Empire. Word  
gets out around the galaxy that he is the  
new Emperor. Kidnapping males from obscure  
planets stops. Darth Sidiously believes that  
there are enough men to build what needs  
to be built. He also puts together a team to  
find the master ship builder, namely Ian  
Bartholomew. Ian's knowledge is too valuable  
to allow anyone else to have. As long as the  
Empire has the most powerful ships, they  
have the advantage, they would rule the  
galaxy.

Yodi, in a ship headed for Geonosis, sits in  
a trance. Jedy master **Fias** walks in. He  
sees Yodi is concentrating on something  
so he doesn't bother the small Jedy leader.

Yodi is deep in concentration, when we look  
into his opponents thoughts, we find him  
battling Darth Plagueisies. In slow motion  
we see him making moves that only he, Yodi,  
is able to make, bouncing off objects in the  
room, wielding his saber as he had successfully,  
so many times before. The Light Sabers, bright  
in the Dark room, flailing, we are barely able  
to see the two opponents in Yodi's shadowed  
thoughts. And yet, Darth Plagueisies, knowingly  
unable to win against Yodi, has to escape. Yodi  
must contemplate his mistakes. He eventually  
comes out of the trance. Master Fias looks at  
Yodi concerned.

" _Am I invading to ask what presses you master  
Yodi?_" The Jedy asks.

" _Failed I have, let Darth Plagueisies escape, I  
did. What mistakes made, did I?"_ Yodi answers.

Fias has to think, " _Maybe he was advanced in  
the Force enough to have battled with  
something you have never seen master_".

" _Possible it is. Perfect with a Light Saber I am  
not_."

" _No, the best maybe, but not perfect._ " Says  
Fias.

Yodi looks at him. " _Apparently, the best, I am  
not. And yet, I have felt Darth Plagueisies  
death."_

" _His death master?_ " Fias asks.

" _Yes, the Force has revealed that to me  
but… and if true, is this, I am not sure._"  
Says Yodi basically to himself.

" _Does the Force trifle with your mind master?_ "  
Asks Fias.

" _Experienced this, in the past, I have not.  
Clear to me, one thing is, kill him, I did not,  
if in fact, dead, he is._"

" _You are too humble master._ " Says Fias laughing  
a little.

" _Humility, in a Jedy, a good quality this is.  
But kill this Sith, I needed to._" Says Yodi.

"There see master, you needed to, maybe  
you didn't want to." Says Fias.

Yodi contemplates. " _This Sith, dangerous  
he was, powerful with the Dark Side he  
was. Stopped him, I tried._"

" _He was master, but maybe not by you._ "  
Says Fias.

Yodi snickers a little. " _Wise are you master  
Fias, wise are you._"

Ian looks cautiously into the ship works bay.  
The room is dark, smoky and causing him  
to wish for regular air but empty. Even as  
the smoke filled his lungs causing him to  
cough, he kept moving. He can hear the  
battle still going on around him. He enters  
the abandoned bay, Exit still drooped over  
his shoulder. He cautiously walks through  
the bay looking for anything that he can  
use to escape. He sees the shell of the third  
probe he was working on, somewhat wrecked  
per a Jedy Light Saber. He races towards it,  
sizes it up, throws Exit in its shell and begins  
to rebuild it. Time passes and he eventually  
moves the apparently completed probe onto  
the Jettison ramp. He actuates the ramp and  
climbs inside the probe. Inside the probe, it's  
dark, Exit lies behind him. He sits in a hastily  
made chair and straps himself in. In front of  
him, a panel resembling the pilots panel of a  
ship. He hits a switch, the panel comes to life,  
light from the panel now somewhat illuminating  
the inside. Outside the probe, large doors open  
from the bay of the Star Destroyer, the probe is  
carried inside a pressurized room. The large  
doors close behind it. Inside the room where  
the probe is now located, the sound of pressure  
hisses, indicating that a vacuum has been created.  
Doors to outer space open and the probe is fired  
out of the Star Destroyer per its jettison system.  
It floats in space, then it emits a propulsion flame  
and begins a descent down to a nearby planet  
seemingly being steered and propelled under its  
own power. It reaches the atmosphere of the  
planet, friction flames begin to gather around  
it. Inside, Ian guides it effortlessly even though  
it is surrounded by flames. As it slows enough  
to dissipate the friction flames, a parachute  
opens slowing the probe even more.

On the planet below (Tatooine) the probe lands  
like a ship complete with landing gear. A hatch  
opens. Ian climbs out still hanging on to Exit.  
He looks around, a few men walk towards him.  
One is obviously Basilisk, looks an awful lot like  
a Rooster. They approach him with caution but  
they are obviously friendly. Ian tells them of his  
escapades on the Imperial ship and how they  
escaped.

He is brought into town, a place they call the  
Catacombs. The town is desolate, many businesses,  
out of business thanks to the Empire.

Ian look at the Basilisk man. " _Business looks  
bad._"

 _"Business is bad._ " The Basilisk says.

The other men look on but don't say  
anything.

Ian looks around, it's a ghost town complete  
with wind and tumble weeds. " _What kind of  
businesses survive around here?_"

The Basilisk man thinks, he rubs his chin.  
" _Drinking establishments I guess._ "

Ian thinks. " _Then a Bar it is_." He pauses,  
" _Are any of these places for sale?_ "

The Basilisk man looks at the other men  
with him. They shrug their shoulders.

" _Most any of them I assume. And you probably  
don't need a lot of capital. Say, if you happen  
to run into someone who can fix all this, meaning  
shut down the Empire forever, send him my way  
would ya?_" Says the Basilisk man.

" _Sure, and the same goes for me. I'm pretty good  
with mechanics. Maybe I can help._" Says Ian.

Ian wanders around the town talking to the few  
people that are still there. He finds a place that  
he can build into a drinking establishment that  
is empty and belongs to a local man. The man  
said Ian could have it for free but if the business  
goes good, then he could start paying rent. Ian  
begins to order the favorite drinks of the locals  
and puts a makeshift sign out front indicating that  
a bar has just opened, or will open once the alcohol  
shows up. It's a musty, dusty place but perfect for  
a bar. He spies out the place, it's complete with a  
hall that houses rooms. The rooms are simple but  
will accommodate Exit and he, for the time being.

There is what was once an opening at the end of  
the musty hall. Ian figures he has nothing to lose  
and begins breaking open the covered opening.  
When he finally breaks through, there's a small  
cave carved in the rock. He ignites his flash light  
and crawls in. When he gets through, it opens  
up into a huge room carved into the small mountain  
behind his place. He looks up, the top of the room  
is rock but he contrives a plan to open it up where  
he can come and go almost undetected by making  
it into a camouflaged door. There's no power in the  
space but Ian knows how to correct that too.

First he has to put Exit back together. She's in  
bad shape, they were going to disassemble her  
and melt down her parts for recycle. They took  
out her power source so he has to figure out  
how to replace it.

He goes to the probe he rigged to escape. Nothing  
there, he would need to travel somewhere to get  
the parts for a power source for her. No way to  
travel except… the probe. Could be reconstructed  
to at least get him to a place where he could find  
a better mode of transportation. No way to move  
it into the large space under the mountain so he  
starts to work on it right there. He goes to some  
of the locals and gets laser welders and cutters.  
The locals are curious and go out to the probe with  
him to see what he's doing. At first they think he's  
just a hermit that thinks he knows what he's doing.  
They soon find out that he not only knows what  
he's doing but is very good at it. After several days  
Ian reconstructs the probe into a small traveling  
vessel. All are impressed to say the least.

One night while he and a lot of the locals are sitting  
around a camp fire, one of the locals, an old man  
named **Zae Arrel** asks Ian what he used to do. Ian  
thinks for a moment, then decides to risk it. He  
goes on to tell them about all the things that  
happened to him during his travels… He begins  
by explaining to them that he was trained at the  
Academy. He then tells them how he vowed never  
to build a bad ship. Unfortunately the Empire  
recognized that and tried to force him to work for  
them. To make a long story short, they asked him  
to build three probes. He escaped during an invasion  
by the Rebel Alliance, in the third of the three probes,  
which he just re-purposed into a ship to which he  
wants to use to travel through space to find a better  
vessel for traveling. At that point he would set up a  
lab, doesn't say where, build better ships and fix his  
girl friend. Those around him are shocked at that  
since they know she is a droid but not if they see  
her.

Then he makes a request of them, "You cannot tell  
anyone about me. If you do, the Empire will come  
here, make slaves of you and kill me. And all I want  
to do is be free to open a bar and travel a little."

Everyone agrees, he doesn't see anyone objecting.  
He figures he's good but if he's not then he  
determines that his life will end sooner than  
later. At the end of the night Ian returns to  
his old building, checks on Exit, who still lays  
lifeless in one room. He goes to the room next  
to hers, finds some old rags and goes to sleep.

On Magus, Ian's father is considering his sons  
position. But he's old and needs help. He asks  
a Magusian friend of his **,** **Frax Xemo** , to help.  
Frax is an older Magusian but not nearly as old  
as Renn. Renn tells Frax about Ian's situation  
and that he wants to travel to Corellia to make  
sure Ian is ok. Frax tells Renn that he must go  
before the Magusian interstellar council to ask  
permission. Ian's father knows that his son has  
a prominent position there on Corellia but also  
knows that, according to Ian, there has been  
some trouble on that planet concerning the  
Empire. Renn knows, according to Ian, that Ian  
is a government official but opposes the Empire.  
What Renn doesn't know is how much trouble  
Ian is really in. He doesn't know that the Empire  
kidnapped him, beat him, forced him to build ships  
and probes for them and that he escaped to  
Tatoinne and lives as a bartender there now.

Frax agrees with Renn having met Ian. Frax tried  
to talk Renn out of it. That there are concerns but  
that something needs to be done. Frax goes before  
the council. He makes the request for Renn noting  
all of the things Renn has told him about Ian. The  
council explains that it needs to confer and that  
they will get back with Frax about their decision.  
Several days later a member of the council shows  
up at Frax' home. Renn happens to be there. The  
member, a Magusian by the name of **Maco Spero** ,  
brings up some of the things that the two men  
need to be aware of.

" _The Corellian's may be involved with or may be  
being ruled by the Empire."_

Maco says that the Empire is noted to be very devious  
and dangerous. He tells them that there is really  
nothing the Magusian's can do if the two are taken  
or killed. That they must not, under any  
circumstances divulge the where-abouts of Magus  
or it's technologies.

"Magus is not known by anyone in that Galaxy except  
Ian. And they have to trust that Ian will not divulge  
this either.

" Says Maco.

Renn tells Maco, who works from a translator device,  
that Ian has sworn secrecy. The councilman isn't  
convinced. Renn further explains that Magus is a  
secret that Ian wants to keep all to himself for future  
technology needs. This time the councilor reluctantly  
agrees and gives them a pass to leave Magus. Renn  
tells Frax that he has taken one of the lab ships and  
reconfigured it to fit in one of the cubes. Frax is glad,  
they don't want to expose the main ship to anyone  
in that Galaxy, **Cygnus A** , again. The two make for  
the lab, the ship that Renn altered looked like a U-wing  
but different. Not a lot of room but it would do. It was  
fast. They used their type of a transfer droid (fork-lift)  
to move the ship into a cube. They then zapped the  
cube which appeared within the vent system of the  
large ship and they pulled out with Renn at the helm.  
No one knew of their travels. Even the Empire was not  
aware of their coming.

(Modified U-Wing)

They had some knowledge of the coordinates of Corellia  
which were good enough. And sure enough, the trip  
would take several months. It would take awhile to get  
to the edge of the galaxy and then awhile to get to  
Corellia.

Once they'd arrived in Corellian space a voice came over  
their comm.. asking what their purpose was for entering  
Corellian space. They answered back but had no idea  
what the proper response was. Two Corellian authority  
ships were sent to their position to escort them in. They  
had to land in an uncut field. The sun was almost never  
out on Corellia. It was almost always overcast or raining.  
The two disembarked and were met by Corellian  
authorities. They were brought to the Corellian Authorities  
office and questioned per their intentions. Renn explained  
to them that he was looking for Ian Bartholomew, the  
great ship builder. This raised some red flags, making the  
Corellian's wonder why they were looking for him in  
particular. Frax didn't speak, he let Renn do all the talking.  
Frax was huge and a master at war and fighting. Authorities  
with the Empire were notified. In the mean time they  
were asked why common people would have the audacity  
to ask for a conference with the master ship builder. It was  
like me, the author of this story, asking to speak to the  
president. He probably wouldn't be bothered and there  
was about a Million to one chance that he would see them  
anyway. Renn tried the "It's very Important." Line but  
they really didn't care. The man doing the questioning,  
asked them to tell him what they actually wanted. Their  
mission was confidential, for his ears only. About that  
time several Empire officials entered the room. They  
were Imperial officers. The regular Corellian authorities  
immediately backed off. An Imperial officer by the name  
of **Jagged Hentz** approached them. Obviously very high  
ranking.

He smiled as he questioned them. " _I am Colonel  
Jagged Hentz. I am the leading authority here on  
Corellia representing the Galactic Empire._"

They all shake hands.

" _Curious, why are you here to see… well… quite frankly  
one of our leading government officials and our leading  
ship builder?_"

Renn looks at Frax then at the officer, not sure what or  
how much to say. " _We… want him… to build a ship… for  
us._"

" _Well then you need to talk to the Corellian ship sales  
personnel._" The Colonel says, knowing that's not really  
what they want.

Renn is still somewhat hesitant about what to say. " _No…_ "  
he looks at Frax, " _We were… told to speak to… Dr.  
Bartholomew himself._"

" _Well, I don't know who told you that but I assure you,  
he doesn't see just anyone. You would have to make an  
appointment and then you would have to have a good  
reason for talking to him._" Says the Colonel.

Renn thinks, " _It's kind of embarrassing but… we heard  
he was… missing. To tell you the truth, we're looking for  
him_. Frax grimaces.

The Colonel stands pondering for a second. Then  
decides to bait the two men. " _To tell you the truth…  
he's not here. He is, indeed missing. He has been an  
integral part of the Corellian ship works and we are  
concerned as well_."

No one questions the Colonel but those around  
him wondered why he would be so truthful about  
such a thing. Renn and Frax look at each other.

" _Oh, I was sure that wasn't true. I'm actually  
surprised that it is. Do you have any idea where  
he might be?_" Asks Renn.

" _No, we were hoping you might know._ " Say the  
Colonel.

Renn and Frax stand up. " _No, we have no knowledge  
of his where-abouts either. Well, we will not bother  
you any longer..._" The colonel cuts him off.

" _…You must stay. We have great accommodations._ "  
Says the Colonel

" _No, we really must go._ " Says Renn

The other Imperial officers in the room pull their  
blasters and point them at Renn and Frax. Frax is  
concerned now, ready to do battle. Renn puts his  
hand on Frax' wrist, indicating that he needs to  
stand down for the moment.

" _We insist._ " Says the Colonel. " _As a matter of fact,  
the Dr. is very important to us. You're asking about  
him makes us leery of you. If upon findings, prove  
you are no threat to the Dr. we will let you go but  
for now, you are our guests._"

Frax chimes in, " _Guests don't get treated like this  
where I come from._"

" _And where do you come from my friend, you  
don't look like any species I've ever seen?_" The  
Colonel asks.

" _That is not for public…_ " Renn cuts him off.

" _He is…_ ** _Shi'ido._ " **Renn answers.

" _Let him answer for himself._ " The Colonel  
demands. " _I know Shi'ido and he doesn't look  
like any Shi'ido I've ever seen._" Another  
Imperial officer says.

" _Then you haven't met all the Shi'ido._ " Frax  
answers in somewhat of a calm but insistent  
voice.

The two men are still ushered out of the room  
and put in a holding cell for the time being. Frax  
isn't happy. He was not expecting to be detained  
so soon in their travels. Renn is thinking, he tells  
Frax that when things are shut down, there will  
most likely not be so much security around. He  
recommends that, the time would be a good use  
the Magusian destructive right arm to smash the  
cell open. Frax calms and sits indicating that he  
agrees with Renn.

When evening falls, the lights are dimmed. The two  
act as though they are sleeping. After a few hours  
of shut down time, Renn and Frax quietly get up  
and step toward the entrance to the cell. The cell  
opening is actually blocked by a Ray Shield. But the  
wall on the side of the cell leads to another cell and  
there is no Ray Shield covering that opening. Frax  
tells Renn that it will make a lot of noise. Renn says  
that he is aware of that, that he was hoping that Frax  
could use his arm to strike down any that might  
oppose them. He shrugs his shoulders, just making  
sure that Renn understood that, that might happen.  
Renn assures him, he's ready. Frax stands back from  
the wall, rears back and let's his fist fly. The wall is  
thick and it takes several hits to open it up. Frax works  
fast, when the wall is open the two make for the access  
to the building they are in. When they reach the front  
access to the building, that door is locked as well. Frax  
pounds it open. Two Corellian guards fire on them.  
Frax picks up a rock and with great strength and  
accuracy, propels the rock at the two guards. It  
hits one of the guards knocking him backwards  
about ten feet. The other guard is shocked that  
someone would be so accurate from such a  
distance and at night. It's enough time for  
Frax and Renn to get close to him. Renn  
distracts him by calling out. The guard looks,  
takes aim and Frax knocks him out. Frax picks  
up the guards weapon. Renn picks up the  
other one. No safety, both weapons work no  
matter who fires them. More guards come  
on the scene and fire at Renn and Frax. The  
two fire back while they dash into the clutter  
of rusty ship parts piled so neatly around the  
facility. They move quickly, they run for  
awhile. Finally Renn finds an old ship that  
has its entrance hatch partially open. He  
tries to open it enough for them to climb  
in but it's stuck, probably rusted in position.  
Frax sees Renn struggling with it, climbs up  
and rips the hatch open with his great arm,  
the two jump in to hide. What they don't  
realize was that Corellia had its own species  
of wild life. They had climbed in with a family  
of Chippa's. And like most wildlife, they didn't  
like people getting too close when they have  
young around. A growl alerts the two to the  
fact that they are intruding. Chippa's like most  
wild life will generally run the other direction if  
a man comes too near. They're sort of like a  
shark, land dwelling, nocturnal, meat eater  
and known to be quite ferocious when cornered.  
Renn and Frax both shine their lights on the  
animals. They both back up slowly, rifles pointed  
at the beasts that growl angrily. Frax climbs  
out of the hatch first. Ian stands under the  
hatch not sure what to do. He knows if he  
turns his back they'll jump him. Suddenly  
Renn feels a tug on the back of his shirt.  
Frax lifts him out of the hatch. They jump  
down and start for a different place to hide.  
Frax halts Ian for a second.

"They're probably tracking us." _Says Frax_.

" _Possibly._ " Says Renn.

" _Take off your scarf._ " Says Frax.

" _Take off my… why me?"_ Renn asks.

" _You're the only one wearing something  
that isn't completely necessary_." Answers  
Frax.

" _Not my… My grandmother gave me this._ "  
Renn says defensively.

" _It looks like something your grandmother  
gave you_." Says Frax.

Renn unwraps it from around his neck and  
hands it to Frax. " _What's that supposed to  
mean?_"

Frax looks at the scarf. " _Humans, like  
Magusian's bury their dead, do they not?_"

" _Yes._ " Replies Renn.

" _They should have buried this scarf with  
her._" Answers Frax.

" _I… my grandmother would have kicked you…_ "  
Frax interrupts Renn.

" _…Your grandmother would have never worn  
that. No wonder she gave it to you._"

" _You know Frax, sometimes you can be a real  
jerk in the…_" Renn cuts himself off when Frax  
tosses the scarf into the Chippa den.

" _Come, we must keep moving._ " Says Frax  
ignoring the fact that he has just thrown  
Renn's scarf where Renn would not ever  
likely recover it. They begin jogging deeper  
into the junk yard.

A posy from the Empire comes about ten  
minutes behind them. They have hunting  
cobs with them. Cobs are only similar to  
dogs in that they have a keen sense of  
smell and men can trust them… mostly.  
The cobs alert to the old rusty ship. The  
ranking member of the Posy orders two  
Imperial soldiers to go in after them. The  
Imperial soldiers being the type of soldiers  
that never argue with orders, climb into the  
old ship. The rest of the posy waits outside.  
Before long they hear… "Oh shit!" from inside.  
Followed by ferocious growls and screams. The  
cobs are terribly frightened. The Malay goes on  
for a couple of minutes. Then silence followed  
by crunching and chewing noises. The Imperial's  
shrug their shoulders and move on.

The farther Renn and Frax wander into the  
endless junkyard, the more vegetation has  
grown up around the junk. They both surmise  
that this junk has been here for some time.  
Some of the vegetation becomes forest. It's  
darker because of the shade. The path they  
travel becomes thickets. Renn and Frax have  
great difficulty pushing forward. Frax is in the  
lead and finally decides to get down and crawl.  
Renn sees this and at first is reluctant to follow  
but then realizes that Frax is crawling along rather  
easy. Most of the vegetation is hanging from the  
trees as opposed to coming up from the ground.  
Renn gets down and begins crawling as well. They  
end up crawling for at least two miles. Renn finally  
grabs Frax by the foot. He indicates via sign language  
that he's pooped and needs to rest. Frax agrees. They  
clear a spot of the vegetation and start a fire. Night is  
closing in. Frax finally lays down and goes to sleep.  
Renn watches him wondering how he can be so sure  
that nothing will happen to him while he sleeps. When  
morning comes Renn, who has been awake all night  
keeping guard, wiggles Frax' foot. Frax wakes up slowly  
at first. Then rouses quickly to the sound of someone  
hacking through the thicket. He pulls his rifle out in  
front of him. The hacking sound is coming from all  
around them.

" _Stop or I'll shoot!_ " Frax yells.

The sound stops. Whoever was coming has stopped.  
Renn and Frax look around. They can see nothing.  
Frax begins carefully gathering up their things. He  
signals for Renn to follow him. He begins crawling  
under the vegetation. They've crawled a good  
distance and nothing has happened. They didn't  
see anything. Frax smiles seemingly re-assured  
that they've crawled past whatever it was. And  
whatever it was is satisfied that they've moved on.  
Then Renn feels a foot on his back and something  
sharp against his head. Frax keeps crawling until he  
realizes that Renn is not behind him anymore. He  
hacks some of the vegetation out of the way and  
stands up.

" _Renn… Renn… where are you?_ " Frax questions in  
a quiet tone. He doesn't hear anything. He turns  
around and that's when all hell breaks loose. Men,  
natives of sorts, attack him. Frax is a trained soldier.  
He is able to thwart the attacks of several of them  
but eventually someone gets his ankles. His feet are  
pulled out from under him. More of the native men  
pounce on him. He hasn't stopped fighting yet. Frax,  
with his great arm, tosses several of them off. He  
strikes several before someone knocks him clean out  
by hitting him in the head with a big stick. When he a  
wakes, he sees Renn tied up to a tree about fifty feet  
away. He suddenly realizes that he is bound as well.  
They've been brought into a clearing. Frax can still  
see the old junk laying around. But where they are,  
the junk has all been moved making way for flowers,  
trees and shrubs as well as what seems to be the  
domains of the native families. Some native children  
run up. Very dirty and smelly but just as happy as  
children always seem to be. The children observe the  
foreigners. They don't have much on and look like one  
would assume a native child would look. Something  
whisks past Frax, then it whisks past Renn. Something  
whisks past Frax again and his bindings fall to the ground.  
It whisks past Renn, his bindings also fall off. They don't  
say anything but they're watching each other, not sure  
what to do next. They suddenly get their answer, what  
or whoever it was, whisks past Renn again but this time,  
Renn's arm is cut. It was so fast that Renn didn't even  
feel whatever it was that cut him. It whisks past him  
again cutting him again on the same arm. Several more  
times the seemingly invisible entity flies past Renn  
cutting him each time it goes by. Frax begins to yell  
toward Renn.

" _Come get me you bastard!_ "

Frax got heard, whatever it was that cut Renn,  
now zoomed past Frax cutting his arm. The first  
mistake the entity made was that it didn't cut  
Frax' jacked arm. Frax can see by the movement  
of vegetation around them that the entity was  
coming again. The other mistake that it made was  
that Frax' jacked arm was loose. Frax holds out his  
huge arm, stiffens it and blocks the entity from  
going by. The little native pygmy hits Frax' arm  
and like a large clothes line, he is stopped dead.  
He hits Frax' arm so hard that it spins Frax around.  
The little native man stands staggering with all the  
life knocked out of him. He falls on his face out cold.  
A small knife falls out of his hand. Frax looks down  
at the little man. Renn, holding his bleeding arm,  
runs over to see what it was that cut him. The other  
little natives surround them also looking down at  
the flattened man. One of the more prominent  
looking natives looks up at Frax.

" _What?_ " Frax asks him in a somewhat frustrated  
tone.

The apparent leader obviously didn't speak the  
same language but none of them seemed threatening  
now. The leader, looking at Frax, shrugs his shoulders.  
He looks down at the downed man. The little man is  
still out cold. Frax decides to take matters into his own  
hands. He backhands one of the natives standing next  
to the leader, sending him flying, just in case they  
weren't convinced that Frax could actually do what he  
did. The native people back up being somewhat shocked  
at Frax' show of force.

As time passes the little natives decide that Renn and  
Frax are ok. Not that they had much of a choice. They  
shared food which wasn't what Renn or even Frax would  
normally eat, but being the dignified people that they  
were, they didn't want to offend so they ate, reluctantly  
but they ate. They were presented with a small skit which  
told them a little more about the culture. Including their  
history of adapting to the planetary junk yard.

Renn had a theory that the apparent similarity in bodily  
appearance meant that at one time, the Corellians were  
descendants of the native tribes. But that didn't explain  
the ability the natives seemed to have to run faster than  
wind itself. After a couple of days, and after Renn being  
the scientist that he sort of is, tried to determine which  
of the little people was female. It was hard to tell, they  
all looked very similar. It looked to him as though both  
male and female shared the responsibility of tending the  
children, which didn't look like they'd had much tending  
at all. Anyway, the natives let them go. So Frax and Renn  
cordially said goodbye and headed toward the Corellian  
epicenter.

As they leave, Renn passes along more of his theory  
about the pygmy's to Frax.

" _I noticed nothing that would indicate a super ability  
to move so quickly._" Says Renn.

" _Maybe only one of them has this ability._ " Says Frax.

" _Maybe._ " Renn says puzzling as they continue to crawl.

Renn theorizes based on their bodies, that there is no  
obvious bodily characteristic that could lend itself to their  
speed. He then theorizes that some beings around the  
galaxy have the ability to manipulate the Force but don't  
have total control like the Jedy. They are given the ability  
to do something physical by the Force. Some, have the  
ability to see the future. Some read minds. Some control  
minds. Etc.

Word got out that someone had infiltrated the Corellian  
ship works. The news is communicated through news  
sources. Ian gets wind of it, it is early at the bar, a box of  
liquor sits atop the counter where the locals belly up. The  
box says, "Royal Interest – Sweet." The box has been  
sitting there for weeks. Ian has taken on the name of  
"Sweet" and Renames the bar "Sweets". The name sticks.

Several of the locals stop in one day, for coffee but Ian has  
Exit over his shoulder and locks the door as he's leaving.  
The locals are confused. The bar is closed until further  
notice. They watch Ian as he runs off with Exit.

He runs to the field where his make shift ship sits. It's  
not finished but he decides he has no time, throws Exits  
lifeless body in, closes the hatch and hopes for the best. The  
ship comes to life and Ian quickly flies it out of the  
atmosphere and into space towards Corellia.

In the mean time, Renn and Frax are hid out in another  
old ship. They take turns sleeping and when they're both  
awake and somewhat rested, they begin to make plans to  
escape. The Empire now has several units of Imperial  
Soldiers and Imperial Droids looking for them. **Colonel  
Hentz** is frustrated about the news getting out and has to  
answer to the highest authority in the Empire ranks. The  
Imperial officials and Darth Sidiously appear on Holo. Darth  
Sidiously is part of the questioning, the Colonel assures them  
that the two prisoners will be found. Darth Sidiously doesn't  
care, he doesn't like it when someone fails him. He reaches  
out through the Force and cooks the Colonel to death.  
Corellian and Imperial officials watch as the Colonel roasts  
right before their eyes then falls dead in a smoldering heap.  
Another Imperial official steps up to the Holo device and assures  
them that the prisoners are currently being searched for and  
will be found. Darth Sidiously hopes so for this officials sake.  
The Imperial official shrinks at the idea that he might be cooked  
next.

Ian is running low on fuel. He sees a nearby planet on his  
scanner but it has never been visited by anyone of  
importance. The planetary database simply says,  
9WUP15150971. Meaning it has been recorded but never  
visited. It's in sector 9W, the UP stands for Unobserved  
Planet and is the 15 millionth, one hundred and fifty  
thousandth, nine-hundred and seventy first planet recorded  
but not visited by anyone in the galaxy. There are about  
another three billion unobserved planets listed and about  
another four billion planets recognized by the Old Republic  
planetary database. Ian reads his panel. From a long distance  
away, his panel indicates that the air on the planet is breathable,  
and that there is life on it. When he gets closer he scans the  
planet again. This time the scanner says that the beings are  
Sentient. Ian opens a channel to the planet hoping that  
someone there speaks his language. A response, they don't  
speak his language but they speak one similar to one he knows.  
He is able to put together what they are saying and puts together  
a message that he needs to save one of his crew and that he  
needs a better ship, that he would explain further upon landing,  
they permit him.

When he lands he opens the hatch with Exit over his  
shoulder. The planet terrain looks strange as do the  
indigenous species though they seem to stand upright.  
They watch him climb down in amazement. The fact  
that Exit looks like his species and is lifeless is somewhat  
disconcerting to them. He speaks to one of them in a  
broken dialect. They have some trouble communicating  
but Ian finally thinks they understand. They lead him  
to a strange building where one of the species stands  
holding a device. Ian holds Exits lifeless body in front  
of the being. The being has others help him as Exit is  
too heavy for one of them to carry. They bring her  
inside and lay her face down on a table of sorts. The  
being with the device seems to want to know where  
her power pack would be located. Ian shows them, it's  
under the skin at the base of the back of her neck. The  
skin has to be cut in order to access it. The being  
carefully opens it with a scalpel of sorts. The original  
pack was removed leaving an empty space where it  
used to be. The being looks at Ian with an "I don't  
know if I can help you," look. He scans the cavity,  
reaches in and pulls out a circuit board that has  
contacts for the power pack. The being then appears  
to be perusing some stock that he has on shelves.  
Most of the stock is old, dusty and looking pretty out  
of date. He finally stops and pulls out a device which  
Ian has never seen before, it looks almost alive. He  
puts it in her power pack cavity and re-inserts the  
circuit board. He closes up the skin with a type of  
glue and stands her up. Ian reaches behind her head  
and switches her on. She comes to life but seems to  
have to adapt to the new type of power pack. Ian  
talks to her…

" _Exit?_ " He asks her.

She looks at him, in robotic movements but  
doesn't answer. The being tries to explain in  
his language that "She will be able to survive  
on the power pack that he put in her but she  
might not remember anything until Ian can  
put a proper one in her." Ian is struggling to  
understand. Surprisingly she understands perfectly  
and translates for him. But again she sounds very  
robotic and doesn't know anyone including Ian.  
Ian tries several different commands that he knows…

" _Access, Bus, Pipe, calculate, install, Input…_ " He  
voices.

Nothing seems to work, she just stands there  
looking at him. He looks at them, satisfied but  
has nothing to pay them with. One of the beings  
notices a necklace that Ian is wearing. Ian  
removes the necklace from around his neck and  
hands it to the being that he was working with.  
The being looks at it, then smiles and nods his  
head at Ian in the affirmative. Ian smiles and  
carries Exit back on the ship. The being stops  
them just before they board. He ushers them  
to a much more complete, strange looking but  
modern vessel. Ian has never seen one before  
and has no idea how to operate it. The being  
tells Ian in his own language to just give it verbal  
commands and it will do what he says, Exit translates.

Ian decides that if Exit can translate, that the vessel  
will be fine. He asks how far it will travel with the two  
of them aboard. Exit translates; the vessel will take  
you as far and as fast as you need to go until it dies.  
"It dies?" Ian thinks. What does that mean?

" _It dies?_ " Ian asks the being. Exit translates.

Through Exit, the being explains that the vessel is  
alive so to speak. It sustains itself by taking in Oxygen  
and can survive on a very small amount for a very long  
time. It gleans oxygen from the different planets it visits.  
He further explains that the vessel has a name and all  
commands should be followed by its name even in space.  
The name of the vessel is: " **Solari**."

(Solari-living vessel of sorts)

Ian looks at the vessel, asks it to open its access port,  
Exit translates ending with "Solari," and the vessel opens.  
The two board, the living ship seems to welcome them.  
It knows the difference between good and bad and can  
sense an evil presents. It would reject the evil presents  
by putting them outside the ship. They bid the beings  
farewell and the vessel takes off. Ian gives it coordinates,  
Exit translates and the vessel begins to move. He asks it  
for all speed ahead, Exit translates and the vessel jumps  
to hyper speed.

Frax and Renn have walked far.

"We have to find a way off this planet." Says Renn in  
a low tone.

"Ya think?" Says Frax sarcastically.

As they move in the direction of one of the facilities,  
they hear voices and have to change their course some.  
They pass the old ship that contained the Chippa's. One  
of the Chippa's has been out hunting and comes in just  
as Frax and Renn get to the old junk. The Chippa bares  
its teeth and snarls. Frax and Renn halt. They stand still.  
The Chippa stops snarling but still shows its teeth. It seems  
to study Frax and Renn. Finally it lowers its lip, no longer  
showing its teeth as a display of defense. It leaps up on the  
old wreckage, looks at Frax and Renn, then jumps into the  
old ship hatch. Frax and Renn give a sigh of relief and move  
on. As they're walking, they hear the Chippa behind them.  
It makes a wining sound now. They slowly turn around. The  
Chippa has Renn's scarf in its mouth. It sets the scarf down  
and runs off. The two look at each other. Renn cautiously walks  
over to where the scarf lays. He looks around, then slowly, while  
still looking around, picks up the scarf. He looks at it. He gives a  
"Not too bad," look and wraps it back around his neck. Frax  
hates that scarf and gives a look of "I just can't believe it," on  
his face. They walk on.

"Even the..."

"...I know, even the Chippa doesn't like it." Renn says as he  
sarcastically cuts Frax off.

Ian tells Exit that he needs to fix some of her systems.  
She asks why in her robotic voice, he explains to her  
that she was different before. She asks how, he  
explains that he really doesn't have time to explain.  
She tells him that messing with her memory systems  
is not advisable. He insists that he is very good at fixing  
droids. She says that because of the power pack that  
has been installed in her, that any attempt to change  
her settings could be disastrous. Ian tells her that he's  
willing to take that chance. She relents and turns her  
back to him so that he can shut her down. He shuts  
her down, she collapses in his arms, he lays her down  
on the floor gently. He cuts open the power pack  
covering and begins to work on it. To Ian's surprise,  
the power pack takes the shape of a hand and grabs  
him… tight. Exit turns her head and looks at him… her  
robotic voice different.

" _What are you trying to do?_ " She asks.

Ian thinks while at the same time, wincing at the  
pain from the grip on his wrist. " _Is this the power  
pack I'm speaking to or the robot?_"

She replies, " _Both._ "

" _Please let go, I mean you no harm. I am simply  
attempting to change the parameters of the power  
pack to resemble her own so that she will remember  
me._" Says Ian.

At first there is a pause. Ian thinks maybe it didn't  
understand, then it speaks through Exit's mouth,  
" _Are you qualified to perform such a procedure?_ "

Ian in great pain shakes his head in the affirmative.  
The voice emitting through Exit says, " _I cannot hear  
your head shaking, is that affirmative or negative?_"

" _Affirmative, affirmative!_ " He answers sharply.

The hand lets go of Ian's wrist and retains its  
original power pack shape. Ian looks at it, he  
tries to lift it out. Now Exit grabs his wrist but  
not nearly as tight.

" _I will help you._ " She says in the strange voice.

" _That would be… fine._ " Ian replies.

Frax and Renn are moving covertly through  
the rusty junk. They come upon another facility  
in the distance and stop, hiding behind some  
of the piled up parts.

" _Now what?_ " Asks Frax.

" _I don't know?_ "

Frax is looking around, " _There doesn't seem to  
be anyone around, how about we make a break  
for that access-way over there?_"

Renn looks, he sees the access that Frax is talking  
about. Renn looks around. " _I think you're right,  
let's go for it._"

The two take a last look around and cautiously  
but quickly run for the access-way. Normally it  
would open automatically but it stays closed as  
they get near it. There is an air vent in the upper  
portion of the door. Renn tries to move it by just  
pushing on it. Frax moves Renn out of the way,  
he pounds his fist through the vent and with his  
massive arm, pulls the door open. Renn is sure  
they've been heard but as he looks around, no  
one appears, the two walk in. They move through  
the corridors until they reach an elevator. The  
elevator is active, the doors open and they step  
inside.

" _We need to find a space port, there should be  
ships there. We can hot wire one and get the  
heck out of here._" Says Renn as they rise.

" _What makes you think it would be on the top  
floor?_" Frax asks.

" _They're always on the top floor._ " Say Renn.

" _Oh._ " Says Frax.

When the doors open on the top floor, Renn  
and Frax pear out to see if anyone is around.  
The corridor is empty. Frax thinks this is strange  
but follows Renn hoping he knows what he's  
doing. They walk a ways, the facility they're in  
is quite large. Ian opens one door and looks in,  
Frax looks over his shoulder. It opens into a  
factory area but the lights are off and all the  
machines are shut down. They back out and  
close the door. Renn moves further down the  
corridor, Frax follows. They finally come to a  
large door. It's heavily armored and appears  
to open upward. Ian actuates the access panel  
to open it. Frax backs up to the other side of  
the doorway preparing to fire if necessary.  
The door opens in an instant. They pear in.  
Renn points indicating that he's discovered  
something. The facility is running, the  
Corellian's are building something that goes  
in a ship. The two watch for a moment. The  
part is systematically processed. It starts as  
a couple pieces of flat metal simply laid on  
top of the other. It goes through one  
machine and comes out fused together and  
in a non-descript shape. Via a conveyor belt,  
it goes to the next machine. It passes  
through the machine and comes out with  
holes and other pieces fused to it. It then  
moves to the next machine, passes through  
it. Something has changed inside of it. It goes  
through several machines before it's picked  
up by a crane, wrapped neatly on a palette,  
hoisted up and placed on a pile containing  
more of the same. Renn guesses from its  
appearance that it goes to some large ship  
and is part of its engines.

As they try to prance in, Imperial's and  
Imperial Droids begin to fire on them. They  
fire back but have to back track quickly  
down the corridor that they came through.  
All hell has broken loose! Laser bolts come  
from all directions. The two hide behind  
objects in the corridor and return fire. Before  
long they realize that the Imperial's must  
have known they were coming because  
they're being fired on from both directions.  
The two have no choice but to give up.

The Imperial's and Imperial Droids hold them  
at gun point. Darth Sidiously appears.

" _Who are you?_ " He asks.

The two don't answer. Darth Sidiously, through  
the Force, crinkles up Frax' rifle. He drops it  
shocked by what is happening to it. Ian lowers  
his to the ground and drops it. They both have  
their hands up.

" _I'll ask again, who are you?_ " Darth Sidiously  
asks.

Renn speaks first, " _I'm Renn Bartholomew._ "

Darth Sidiously has to think. " _Bartholomew,  
Bartholomew,_" He looks at one of the Imperial  
officers next to him who is holding a blaster on  
the two. " _Isn't that the name of our missing  
Master Ship Builder?_"

" _Yes… yes sir. Ian Bartholomew I believe sir._ "  
The officer replies.

" _Yesss. What relation are you?_ " Darth Sidiously  
asks.

" _I… I don't know what you're talking about._ " Says  
Renn.

Darth Sidiously uses the Force to smash him into  
the ceiling, letting him fall to the floor. Renn, as  
old as he is, is easily maimed. Frax kneels down  
to see if his friend is ok.

" _What about you, who are you?_ " Darth asks.

Frax looks at him in discussed, " _Can't you see  
that he is old, why must you treat him that way?_"

Darth Sidiously uses the Force and smashes Frax  
against the ceiling, then lets him fall to the ground.  
Then Frax is picked up and thrown down the  
corridor to crash against a stationary object. Darth  
Sidiously walks up to where Ian is attempting to  
regain his composure, Renn climbs back to his feet.  
Darth Sidiously uses the Force to flatten him again.  
The old man goes down as though some heavy  
invisible object has just been dropped on top of  
him. He goes down with a grunt!

" _Maybe I wasn't clear the first time. What relation  
are you…_" Renn interrupts him.

" _…His father damn you. I'm his father._ " Renn finally  
gives in to Darth Sidiously' control over his mind.

Frax is standing up in the background. Though our  
view of him, in the background is blurred, it is  
apparent that Darth Sidiously casts him against  
the object again. He falls forward and to the floor.

Renn sees this out of the corner of his eye, " _Leave  
him alone, I'm the one you want!_"

"P _ick them both up, put them in Irons and put them  
in a holding facility. Make it known that we have the  
Master Ship Builders father. His son will surely come  
looking for him and when he does, we'll have him,  
and then… we'll kill him._" Says Darth Sidiously.

" _But sir, if…_ " Darth Sidiously cuts the officer off.

 _"…We don't need him and he'll just try to escape  
again. He's more trouble than he's worth. We  
may not have a great ship builder but neither  
will anyone else. And… we have the specs for  
the new space station and we control Corellia_"

" _I see sir, very good._ " The officer issues orders  
to some of the men around him. "Bind them  
and take them to the local holding facility."

The two are hauled up by their arms and  
escorted off. The Imperial Soldiers arrive at  
the containment area with the two prisoners.  
Others come out with what appears to be  
shackles. The two prisoners are sat down in  
chairs. The Imperial's shackle the hands of  
Frax first. He appears awake now and holds  
his shackled hands in the air. Everyone stops  
and looks at him including Renn. Frax then  
flexes the muscle in his great arm. With little  
effort, he breaks the shackles apart. With  
their attention distracted, he knocks down to  
two soldiers next to him, grabs one of the rifles  
and begins to fire, destroying two of the  
Imperial droids. The other soldiers and Imperial  
Droids fire back but neither of our two hero's are  
hit. They take cover behind another object just  
outside the room.

" _What the hell made you do that?_ " Renn asks.

" _If I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down  
fighting._" Says Frax.

Renn shrugs his shoulders like, " _Hey, it's not a  
good reason but it's a reason._"

Renn and Frax continue to fire back. The two  
are in a shoot out with the Imperial's but  
hopelessly outnumbered. The battle goes on  
for several minutes but it becomes clear that  
the Imperial's will soon have the upper hand.  
Renn is about to give up again when laser  
bolts come from a different direction. The  
Imperial's are stumped and to their surprise,  
are gunned down by Ian and Exit.

Ian comes running out with Exit at his side  
holding a blaster, she has one also. " _Heard  
you were here dad._"

Renn looks at Ian with great joy, " _Came  
here to save you son._" Renn says.

" _Good, let's get out of here._ "

As they're running, " _Never killed anyone  
before._" Says Exit to Ian.

Outside they approach the strange ship  
that Ian and Exit came in. Renn has to  
stop and study it. Ian sees him and yells…

"Dad, we're kind of in a hurry!"

Renn begins to run again. The ramp up to  
the entrance of the ship opens. They're all  
just about on board when several laser bolts  
fly at them. One of bolts unfortunately catches  
Renn in the back. He goes down. Ian stops at  
the bottom of the ramp and turns around as if  
he knows something has happened. He sees  
his father lying on the ground. He yells for Renn!  
More laser bolts come at them. Ian and Exit,  
amidst the hail of gun fire, fire back, now the  
battle has come outside. The sun is shining  
but the moment is grim. Ian and Exit run out  
and pull Renn up the ramp, laser bolts flying.  
Frax went in just before them. He turns the  
ships weapons on the Imperial's and fires  
causing great eruptions in front of them,  
causing them to duck and run for cover. The  
Imperial's have several AT-ST walkers which  
aren't affected by the explosions. The Walkers  
fire on the strange ship. Frax fires again but  
only a few Imperial ground troops are affected,  
the Walkers continue to fire. Suddenly, out of  
nowhere and seemingly invisible, something  
blows past the front line of Imperial ground  
troops, slashing them fatally, giving Ian and  
his gang a chance. Ian watches, Frax knows  
exactly what's going on. The troops are stunned.  
The invisible force attacks again cutting down  
the second line. Frax turns the ship guns and  
fires on one of the Walkers, destroying it and  
causing the others to be pushed off their metal  
footed accesses. Some of the Walkers regain  
they're stance. More of the invisible force, this  
time apparently many more of them, attack the  
rest of the Imperial ground troops. Frax fires on  
another Walker destroying it. The ramp of the  
 **Solari** lifts, the main door closes, all while the  
ship takes off. Inside, Ian and Exit kneel next to  
Renn. Frax watches out the front window. A man  
appears almost out of nowhere. It's the native  
man that originally attacked them. The rest of  
the native tribe starts to appear as they kill off  
more of the ground troops, waving goodbye.  
Frax waves back.

Renn speaks to Ian with his dying breath. " _Sorry  
son, wasn't supposed to happen like this._"

Ian is whimpering, " _It's ok dad, we're going to  
get you some help._"

Renn looks at Exit, " _She's cute son, not real but  
definitely cute._"

Exit smiles enjoying Renn's praises.

" _No son, it's bad, I don't think we're going  
back together._" Says Renn.

" _Dad… please, don't say that, I've hardly  
gotten to know you._" Says Ian through his  
tears.

Frax looks back. Outside, Tie fighters attack,  
firing on the strange ship. " _What do I do?_ "

Ian calls to the controls, he's pissed " _Destroy,  
destroy!_"

Exit, in a commanding voice, translates in  
the ships language.

" _I guess we'll just have to talk when you get  
to heaven._" Says Renn in a dying voice.

Ship replies in a soft female voice, " _Attempting  
to destroy attacking vessels._"

" _Heaven, where's that?_ " Ian asks.

" _Not sure to tell you the truth._ " Says Renn,  
thinking and dying.

The ship fires on the Tie Fighters, they're no  
match for the seemingly living ship as they  
explode, each in a ball of fire as the green  
laser bolts hit them. Ian instructs the ship  
to go back to Tatoinne. Exit runs up by him  
and issues commands in the ships language  
again. The ship dashes off into space at light  
speed. Now Frax kneels down by Ian and his  
father.

" _Frax, why didn't you make him stay back?_ "  
Ian asks blaming Frax for his father's wound.

" _I tried Ian, he wouldn't listen._ "

" _No Ian, it's not his fault, I insisted, it's my  
fault son._" Says Renn but he has to force out  
his last words. Renn closes his eyes and dies.

Frax looks at Ian but before he can speak, Ian  
runs away turning his back on Frax. Exit looks  
at Frax with pity in her eyes, she knows it really  
wasn't Frax' fault. Frax looks down at Renn, Renn  
is dead.

" _Goodbye my old friend._ " Says Frax to Renn one  
last time.

Darth Sidiously is furious, this is the second  
time prisoners have escaped. He wants to  
kill someone but he is responsible this time.  
A lower ranking Imperial officer walks by,  
Darth Sidiously reaches out with the Force.  
The young officer stops, he has a terrified  
look on his face. He begins to shake and cry  
out. His face turns bright red, smoke begins  
to rise up from the openings in his uniform.  
His cries become gurgles, his skin turns black,  
his entire body, uniform and all, bursts into  
flames. Darth Sidiously let's go of the man.  
The man falls to the floor dead and  
smoldering. His uniform is still burning.  
Several Imperial's around Darth Sidiously  
look shocked but glad it wasn't one of them.

" _Now I feel better._ " Says Darth Sidiously,  
paying no attention to what he has just  
done.

Darth Sidiously then instructs those  
around him to follow him to a meeting  
room. When they arrive in the meeting  
room all sit, Darth Sidiously stands pacing  
back and forth in front of them.

" _Plan, plan, we must plan, and this time no  
one will fail me. That ship builder will be  
mine or he will be no one's!_" Says the Sith.

One of the officers dares to speaks up,  
" _Maybe sir, we could use more like yourself,  
a being who has power over the Force like  
you do._"

" _My thoughts exactly, I will contact help,  
we will plan and we will get Bartholomew  
or we will kill him."_

One of the High ranking officers speaks up.  
" _Sir, if I may, we've killed his father. The Dr.  
might be looking for revenge, especially if  
we did, in fact, kill his father. He may come  
to us._"

Darth Sidiously looks at the officer as he  
ponders. " _You might be right, in fact, the  
Force has revealed to me that someone  
will come and attempt to attack us. I will  
pursue this by meditating on the Dark Side  
more. It may reveal more to me about future  
events._"

" _Yes sir._ " The officer says.

Yodi, in the lead ship of a group of ships  
nears Geonosis. The helmsman of his ship  
gets a warning that a vessel of un-known  
origin has locked on to them and armed its  
weapons. The unknown ship attacks. The  
rebel ships shields hold. The helmsman tells  
Yodi that the ship seems to be unmanned.  
Yodi orders the vessel disabled but not  
destroyed if possible. It's one of the Imperial  
probes. They see it and fire on it attempting  
to disable its weapons and propulsion but  
rather than be caught it incorporates a  
self-destruct system and explodes in front  
of them. The on board space monitor tells  
Yodi that they did in fact disable it but it  
self-destructed. Yodi understands. Another  
probe is discovered but Yodi hesitates to  
try again. He decides that they need to  
scan the planet for life signs. The probe  
fires on them but their shields hold. They  
jump to light speed leaving the probe in the  
dust.

They scan but the scans reveal a large  
population, too many to figure out where  
the Empire is located. Yodi thinks, what  
would the Empire have that would give  
them a positive scan? Yodi decides that  
the only way they can determine the  
Empires where-abouts is to delve into  
the Force and see if anyone is meditating  
in the Dark Side. Yodi goes into a trance.  
Several other Jedy sense his meditation  
and join him. Unfortunately Darth  
Sidiously who is powerful with the Dark  
Side, senses Yodi's trance. Yodi must get  
out fast but he's not fast enough. The  
Alliance position has been discovered.  
Yodi's Helmsman gets a warning  
message on his computer that some  
sort of attack ships are headed their  
way. Yodi must act fast, he dispatches  
two Jedy fighters to Rendezvous with  
the attack ships. In the mean time Yodi,  
who doesn't know Darth Sidiously yet,  
dispatches his own ship and flies to the  
surface to meet this person of the Dark  
Side in battle if necessary. They land in  
a jungle of sorts. The indigenous species  
presents is known to the Alliance landing  
party but the little natives stay hidden  
and watch. When Yodi exit's his ship, he  
is acutely aware of the small creatures.  
He senses that the small natives don't  
seem to be a threat to the landing party.  
Yodi orders some of his team to fan out  
and search.

In space, the two Jedy encounter Tie  
Fighters. There are about six and they  
attack immediately. The Jedy take evasive  
maneuvers and easily destroy the first  
two. The Tie fighters circle around for  
another shot. They're not so easy the  
second time. The Jedy must make use  
of the Force to finish the attack. More  
Tie fighters join the fight. The Jedy use  
the Force to evade the now eight  
attacking ships. One Jedy, from his  
cockpit, gets a lock on one of the Tie  
fighters. He pulls the trigger. Green  
laser bolts erupt from his guns. Just  
about that time, two of the Tie  
fighters are on his tail. He has to  
break off the attack unable to destroy  
the ship in his target lock. And just  
about that time, the two Tie fighters  
that are on his tail are destroyed by  
the other Jedy. The Jedy receives  
explosion warnings. He reaches out  
with the Force to determine if the  
two trailing fighters are indeed the  
ones destroyed. His senses are  
positive. This all happens in a second  
and the Tie fighter that he was locked  
on is barely out of his target area. He  
re-engages, gets a lock, pulls the trigger,  
green laser bolts erupt from his guns  
once again, this time he connects. The  
Tie fighter explodes, there are only five  
left.

Yodi and his team use scanners but the  
area is clean. They board Yodi's transport  
ship and head back for the larger vessel  
still in space. On the way, they encounter  
the two Jedy and the Tie fighters. The Tie  
fighters are busy with the Jedy ships and  
don't notice Yodi's ship. Yodi orders his  
ship to lock on to the two Tie fighters left.  
The two gunners on Yodi's ship each lock  
onto the remaining Tie fighters. The two  
Jedy realize this and break off their attack.  
The Tie fighters are confused about this.  
The gunners get a target lock. The pilots  
of the Tie fighters receive a warning that  
they have been locked onto but it's too late.  
Both of Yodi's gunners fire almost  
simultaneously, the green laser bolts  
make a piffling sound. The two Tie  
fighters are torn to pieces before they  
both explode from the attack. The  
danger has past. The main ship  
detects an ion trail left by the Tie  
fighters from their place of origin. Yodi's  
smaller ship re-enters the larger  
Alliance vessel and the larger vessel  
transports to just over the Imperial  
location on the planet surface. An  
Imperial presents on the surface is  
confirmed but two Star Destroyers  
are alerted to the position and the  
fight is on. The Alliance vessel has  
its hands full with the two Star  
Destroyers. To compound the problem,  
the second probe is again on the  
scene and joins the fight against  
the Large Alliance ship. The alliance  
ship is taking a pounding and must  
make a run for it. Its deflector shields  
are beginning to fail. More Tie fighters  
join the fight, fire and have an effect but  
are easily destroyed by the larger Rebel  
ship. The helmsman boots up the ships  
main computer and they make the jump  
to light speed and not a moment too soon.

But now the Rebels know of the Imperial  
position on Geonosis. The fight has just  
begun and Darth Sidiously knows it. The  
Rebels must be found and destroyed.  
The Imperial secret weapon, hidden  
behind one of the larger moons of  
Geonosis is in its beginning stages of  
construction. Only time will tell when  
it will be revealed and when that time  
comes, the galaxy will be oppressed by  
its power.

The Helmsman on Yodi's vessel gets  
a proximity warning, they detect that  
a Star Destroyer is on their tail, Yodi  
orders his ship out of Light Speed.  
When they slow to impulse engines  
the Star Destroyer does the same. It  
comes out of Light Speed with guns  
blazing, another drops out of Light  
Speed by its side and fires as well.  
Yodi's personal ship is launched. The  
Alliance ship has some of its deflector  
shields fixed but moves out of range.

In the confusion of the Malay Yodi's  
ship attaches to the side of the Star  
Destroyer, the attachment is detected.  
Darth Sidiously assumes this is the  
attack he saw in the Future of the Dark  
Side. A unit of Imperial Droids is sent to  
where Yodi's ship has attached. Yodi  
uses his light saber to cut a hole in the  
hull of the Star Destroyer. The men with  
Yodi jump in shooting. Yodi uses his  
command of the Force to evade Imperial  
gunfire by deflecting with his Light Saber  
or bouncing off the walls to get around  
them. The Rebels will keep the Imperial  
Droids busy. Yodi makes his way to the  
bridge of the ship, having studied a Star  
Destroyer layout based on the two that  
were stolen from the Empire. He cuts his  
way into the bridge, Imperial officer's fire  
at him. He deflects their shots killing some  
of them instantly and cutting the rest down  
with personal attacks. The person he was  
looking for is not on the bridge. Using his  
senses he looks for the Sith. His senses  
tell him that the Sith is right outside the  
door. Instead of charging through the door,  
Yodi jabs his Light Saber through the wall  
hoping to catch the Sith off guard but the  
Sith, Darth Sidiously, is ready. He flips  
through the air evading Yodi's jab. Yodi  
jumps outside the room and begins a  
Light Saber battle with Darth Sidiously.  
At first Darth Sidiously is foolish enough  
to believe that he can beat Yodi but soon  
finds out that Yodi is not only good with  
a Light Saber but is probably the best.  
The two dual on but Yodi is driving him  
back. Fortunately for Darth Sidiously, a  
group of Imperial soldiers comes around  
the corner shooting. Yodi, with his  
powerful command of the Force, detects  
the onslaught and deflects the shots  
back killing some of the soldiers.  
Unfortunately for Yodi, it gives Darth  
Sidiously time to escape. Yodi is fortunate,  
Darth Sidiously chose to run rather than  
take advantage of the interruption. Yodi  
cuts all but one of the soldiers down. He  
lands on top of the last man, Light Saber  
pointed at his throat. Yodi forces him to  
tell using the Jedy mind trick, where Darth  
Sidiously might have gone to. The soldier  
tells of where his quarters are. Yodi leaves  
the man alive and makes his way through  
the Ship but detects that Darth Sidiously  
has left the Star Destroyer. Darth Sidiously  
escapes to another Star Destroyer and they  
flee. Yodi calls for his ship to attach near  
himself. Shortly the sound of metal against  
metal is heard. Yodi cuts through the hull  
opening an exit into his own ship. They  
detach, a few Imperial soldiers get sucked  
out into space. Yodi makes for the main  
Alliance ship which has dropped out of light  
speed near them long enough to take Yodi's  
ship in, then they jump to Light Speed again  
rather than battle with the Imperial Star  
Destroyers.

" _Back to this position we must come. Much  
to learn have we from this place. Sense I  
do, a large disturbance in the Force here._"  
Says Yodi thinking out loud before one of  
his officers.

" _Yes sir, we'll figure out a way to get back  
into this sector undetected but we need to  
leave this sector for now._" Say the officer.

" _Agreed._ " Says Yodi.

The Jedy mop up any remaining Tie fighters  
and make the jump to Light Speed to  
Rendezvous with Yodi.

On the surface of Deveron Ian has landed  
near his old home owned by Teel Stalrif. The  
Stalrif family is home this time. Teel comes  
out to greet them. The re-union is great, the  
rest of the Stalrif family comes out. Ian is  
glad to see them but when Frax comes out  
they all slow, noting the features of this  
new specie. Exit comes out just after him.  
Ian is still angry at Frax and rudely ignores  
him asking Teel if he might enter the home.  
Teel permits him, Teel's wife invites him in.  
Teel then introduces himself and his family  
to Exit and Frax.

" _That's not like Ian._ " Looking at the  
entrance to the home but talking to Frax.

Frax looks at the door, " _He blames me for  
his father's death._"

Teel looks at Frax. " _I didn't know Ian's  
father was still alive._"

Frax looks back at him. " _He was my best  
friend._"

Exit chimes in. "He'll get over it."

" _Maybe._ " Says Frax. " _Mr. Stalrif, this  
is Ian's… girl friend, this is Exit._"

Teel looks at her. " _Teel_ " He continues,  
" _And she's… quite beautiful but she's…_ "

" _…A droid. Yeah, I guess it's a little strange  
but…_" Says Exit as finishes Teel's sentence.

Teel relents, " _What the heck, whatever works._ "  
Teel changes the subject. " _What happened to  
Ian's father?_"

" _His father and I were trying to rescue Ian. Ian  
ended up rescuing us but his father was gunned  
down in the battle. His body is still on the ship.  
We need to bury him or encase him in carbonite  
soon._" Says Frax.

" _His father is… dead?_ " Teel asks now realizing what  
Frax said before.

" _Yes._ " Replies Frax.

" _You can bury him here. Pick a place, it really doesn't  
matter where._"

" _I will do so shortly._ " Says Frax.

"Your Shi'ido, correct? Asks Teel.

" _My name is Frax, I'm Magusian, that's all I  
can say for now._" Frax tells him.

" _Say no more. So what about her?"_ Teel asks  
referring to Exit who is walking up to the  
entrance to the home.

" _Apparently, and I don't know the whole story,  
but apparently she helped him escape from the  
Empire. That's really all I know._" Says Frax.

Teel looks at Frax, " _You seem like a good guy,  
I can't believe you were responsible for Ian's  
father's death._"

" _Ian's father was old. I tried to talk him out of  
going but he insisted._" Says Frax.

" _You were his friend, you tried._ " Responds Teel.

" _I guess Exit is right, he'll get over it… eventually._ "  
Says Frax.

Teel invites him in. In the home, Ian sits talking  
with Teel's wife and kids. Exit just sits listening.  
When Teel and Frax walk in, Ian, who was  
smiling as he told of his tales, suddenly stops  
smiling and pauses mid-sentence while looking  
at Frax. He then continues to talk to Teel's wife.  
Teel leans over and tells his wife about Ian's  
father. Teel's wife shows a look of great sadness.

Later that night Teel and Ian are alone, they  
sit and talk together. Ian tells Teel all about  
what he's been through. Then there is a pause.

" _Ian, Frax tells me that you're mad at him  
because your father was killed._" Teel says.

" _Yeah, he'd still be alive if Frax left him at  
home._" Says Ian.

" _Frax was your father's friend, he came with  
your father._" Says Teel.

" _If he were such a great friend, he would  
have made my father stay back._" Retorts  
Ian hesitantly.

" _Then Frax would have had to look for you  
alone. This was your fathers mission._"  
Says Teel.

" _Yeah, I suppose._ " Says Ian.

" _He seems like a good guy._ " Teel interjects.

The next morning, Frax is moving supplies  
to the **Solari**.

" _Frax!_ " Ian calls for Frax.

Frax stops what he's doing and looks over  
glad to hear Ian calling his name. Ian is  
approaching and has a pleasant look on  
his face. " _Yes Ian._ "

Ian walks up to Frax. " _Frax, I've been  
thinking about the way I've been treating  
you._"

 _"Ian, I un…_ " Ian interrupts him.

" _…No… Frax, it's nice of you to excuse  
my behavior but I've treated you badly  
and I know it wasn't your fault. Please  
forgive me._" Ian apologizes.

Frax smiles, " _All is forgiven, I loved your  
father, he will be missed._"

Ian smiles and lowers his head. " _Yes…  
yes he will._" Ian changes the subject.  
" _Frax, where are you going?_ "

" _I have to go back to Magus and let  
people know what has happened. Your  
father had many friends, they will want  
to know. Besides, we found you and  
you are what we came for. It's time  
for me to go back._" Says Frax.

" _Frax I…_ " Now Frax interrupts Ian.

" _Dr. Bartholomew, you are welcome to  
come to my planet anytime, visit me,  
I hope you do._" Says Frax.

Ian smiles, they shake hands. Frax  
continues to load the **Solari**.

Frax is gone and the Solari with him.  
Ian and Exit are without a ship. Ian  
would love to get hold of one of the  
Empire Shuttles again. He approaches  
Teel, Teel asks if Frax is gone. Ian  
confirms it. Teel then asks him what  
is wrong, Ian tells him that nothing  
is really wrong but they have no way  
to travel. That's when Teel tells Ian  
about the old man, **Dodge Kilvaari  
** in the town of **Mos Eisley** **.** Unfortunately  
Teel has had some dealings in Mos Eisley,  
it's a rough town and Teel warns Ian.  
Ian and Exit go to Mos Eisley to find old  
Dodge. They go all over town, several of  
the bars won't let Exit in, a problem with  
droids or something. One of the bars has  
some swarthy characters in it and they  
approach Ian with less than good  
intentions. They've never seen Ian before  
and he looks like he might have something  
they want. A different species, three of  
them surround Ian and insist he empty  
his bag and pockets. Ian, ignorant to what  
evil people do, feels his blaster being pulled  
out of its holster while they press him. Ian  
swears he really doesn't have anything, he  
invites them to come to his bar when he  
returns. They don't seem to care much about  
that. Another one of their thug friends brings  
Exit in by her arm.

" _Look what I found waiting outside the bar?_ "  
Says the thug.

The bartender tells them that she's not  
welcome there. One of the thugs points  
a blaster in the bartenders face and  
explains that they've changed the rules  
for the time being. Ian asks them what  
they want. They laugh, then one of them  
gets serious and gruff.

" _What have ya got?_ " The thug asks.

Ian tries to explain that everything he has  
that's of any value is back at his bar in  
another town. One of the thugs decides that  
they're going to keep the blaster. The lead  
thug tells Ian that if he doesn't have  
anything that they're just going to kill him.  
Another one points Ian's blaster in his face.  
The one holding Exit, threatens to destroy  
her by shooting her with a blaster. Now Ian  
is pissed, he doesn't care about himself but  
no-one messes with his Exit. As he looks at  
the thug holding Exit he changes his facial  
expression to one of anger. The lead thug  
sees this and starts to laugh. He points this  
out to the other thugs and they laugh as  
well. One of the thugs punches Ian with the  
handle of his own blaster, Ian goes down. An  
old man walks up and grabs the arm of a thug  
about to hit Ian again.

" _Why do you want to hit this man again,  
you've hurt him enough, he's no threat  
to you?_" The old man asks.

The thug pushes the old man back. He can't  
believe that an old man wouldn't mind his  
own business, the old man just takes it.  
Ian sees the thug push the old man, he  
tries to get up to defend the old man as  
well, the thug that hit him, knocks him  
down again. Exit yells for him. The thug  
holding her pulls her back and pushes  
the blaster against her head. Ian, down  
for the count but still conscious wants  
to save her but is too hurt to get up. The  
old man uses his power over the Force to  
launch an object on one of the nearby  
tables at the lead thug hitting him square  
between the eye's, the old man knocks  
him clean out. Exit, being a droid and  
seeing the opportunity disarms the man  
holding her and throws him backwards.  
The other two thugs point blasters at the  
old man. He, dodges one shot and deflects  
the other, he cuts down the two thugs.  
He holsters his Light Saber, the bar tender  
utters something about cleaning up the  
mess but the old man ignores him and  
helps Ian off the floor, Exit helps as well.  
Ian is looking at Exit in surprise. He can't  
believe she had made a conscious decision  
to resort to physical violence to assist the  
old man, she seems to have forgotten the  
whole thing. The old man tells Ian as they  
walks out of the bar that with his power  
over the Force he can also control droids.  
Ian is shocked to realize that the old man  
has power over the Force. As they're  
walking he postulates that the old man  
was or is a Jedy.

" _My name is **Dodge Kilvaari** **,** I was once  
a Jedy but I'm too old now. Retired Jedy  
hide among the commoners on different  
planets._" Says Dodge.

" _Then I… well I appreciate the help._ " Says  
Ian.

" _I hear you're looking for me._ " Says Dodge.

Ian realizes that Dodge is the man Teel told  
him about. " _Yes… yes… Teel told me about  
you._"

" _Teel, don't remember anyone by that name._ "  
Says Dodge.

" _Stalrif… Teel Stalrif. He says you helped  
him off the planet about twenty years ago._"  
Says Ian.

" _I've helped many, I'm sorry, I don't  
remember him._" Says Dodge.

Ian stops and looks serious at Dodge. " _Can  
you help us?_"

Dodge looks at Ian and Exit. " _I think so.  
What do you have for capital?_"

Ian produces a chit. The old man puts his  
hand over it. " _Not much on there._ "

" _How… never mind. I'm sorry it's all I have.  
We can try to get you more somewhere  
else._" Ian begs.

The old man laughs, " _No, no, you  
misunderstand me. I'm just wondering what  
you have to survive with. I'll give you the  
ride." He changes the subject. "Where are  
you going?_"

" _Corellia_." Says Ian

" _Corellia, the ship planet?_ " Dodge asks.

" _Yes, you see, I'm Ian Bartholomew and…_ "  
The old man cuts him off.

" _…Dr. Ian Bartholomew?_ " Dodge asks.

" _Um… well._ " He looks at Exit. " _Yes._ "

" _Man have I been hearing about you. I fly  
one of the ships you designed._" Says Dodge.

" _You do?_ " Asks Ian.

Dodge takes them to where his ship is  
sitting. Ian is surprised to see that the  
ship looks a fright. The old man assures  
them that the ship is sound it just looks  
bad. He has a little pal, a space pet  
species. He tells them that it's good  
for business and ushers them aboard.  
Exit asks Ian about it, she can't believe  
that Ian would design such a thing. Ian  
explains that it surely looked better at  
one time but that the ship was definitely  
something that he designed. Dodge sits  
down in the pilot's seat, Shinti, a small  
dog like creature, jumps in the co-pilots  
seat next to him and they take off. As  
their lifting off Shinti is all excited.

" _Yes **Shinti** , we're going for a ride again._"  
Says Dodge as he pilots the ship into space.

Exit is looking around, " _There are no  
windows, how do you see where you're  
going?_"

" _Instruments, don't need windows._ " Says  
Dodge.

Ian understands how the ship works. The  
ship aptly named the "Black Sun," a  
Trident Interceptor. Ian understands this  
ship because it was one he designed while  
at the Academy. Alderaan security acquired  
six of them. All Trident Interceptor's were  
Instrument piloted. It was designed to keep  
pilots from freaking out when approached by  
enemy ships. They were deadly and well  
weaponised. But the Alderaan Security was  
not well trained in Instrument flying and all  
six were eventually destroyed. The Academy  
built more when they thought the ship would  
be successful. Dodge obviously thought they  
were worth something. Or… when he bought  
it he got a good deal. Ian is wondering the  
whole time, how it was that they would get  
to the planet surface undetected. Ian  
accesses a computer panel to see if he  
could find any information about someone  
rebelling on Corellia. But when he looked, all  
there was, was propaganda by the Empire  
telling of how great they were at governing.  
They had covered all the basis, even the  
ones Ian knew about that were secret. He  
finally polls the old man on the subject of  
detection. When Ian gets up and straps  
himself back in his seat, Dodge accesses  
his own computer to see what Ian was  
looking for. The old man had explained that  
the ship had a cloaking system. Ian had  
forgotten that, when you've designed and  
built as many ships as Ian had, you're  
bound to forget something.

They would coast in with the engines off.  
He would then jettison them in an escape  
pod. The pod would be detected and Dodge  
would have to get out of Dodge quickly. The  
escape pod would land fairly quickly, Ian and  
Exit would have just enough time to escape  
and hide in the woods and the piles of junk.  
Ian goes back to sleep.

He is awakened by the old man telling him  
that they were near the planet.

" _Why go back there? There are plenty of  
planets with good ships that you can use._"  
Asks Dodge.

" _Corellia is my home and… there is a ship  
there that I like in particular._"

" _Yes, you told me that. Seems like too great  
a sacrifice, risking life and limb just to get a  
ship you like._" Says Dodge

Ian tips his head down, then reveals a truth  
to Dodge, " _I am also hoping, that somehow,  
some way, I, with my status as a high  
ranking official in the Corellian government,  
would be able to rid Corellia of the Empire and  
bring the planet back to its original status in  
the galaxy. Neutral, maintaining its own  
form of government and with good  
intentions, clean the place up, you know,  
drain the swamp so to speak._"

" _A worthy cause I guess._ " Say Dodge.

Dodge had already cut the engines and  
engaged the cloaking system. Ian and  
Exit gathered a few things and entered  
the escape pod, Dodge jettisons them  
out. When Ian accesses a small monitor  
to see behind them, Dodge is already gone.

Parachutes slow their decent, they land,  
pop the hatch to the pod and dash off  
into the woods. When they get far enough  
away Ian and Exit hide behind some old  
junk. An Imperial search party shows up  
shortly. Ian can hear one of the officers  
with some sort of device indicating that a  
human and a droid were in it but were  
gone and there was no trace of them.  
Ian and Exit move on cautiously. At one  
point, Exit with her droid hearing says that  
she's heard something in the vegetation  
around them. Before long, Ian can hear it  
also, it's coming closer. Ian and Exit try to  
hide but they can only hide behind more  
vegetation. Fortunately the sound they  
heard was the little natives that helped  
them escape from Corellia the first time.  
Ian remembers how they were able to  
move so fast that they could only be seen  
when they wanted to.

Ian and Exit, being welcomed to their  
village, were met as usual, by the native  
children, same smelly, dirty kids that Renn  
had told them about earlier, they stayed  
there awhile. Exit didn't need to eat. Ian  
ate some food they. Ian ate it hesitantly  
and being the honorable man that he was,  
acted as though he was enjoying it even  
though he really didn't. The natives laughed  
at him knowing that he really didn't like the  
food but they weren't offended.

They were, over a time, able to establish a  
way to communicate. One thing Ian learned  
was how much the natives hated the Empire.  
That at one time, they were able to live in  
peace with the other residents of Corellia but  
when the Empire showed up, they were  
considered an infestation, the Empire formed  
hunting parties, hunted them down and killed  
them. Ian, unable to sleep one night postulated  
that there might be enough of the little natives  
to form a rebellion. When he proposed the idea  
to the chief the next day, the Chief pooh-poohed  
the idea. The Empire was huge, there weren't  
enough warriors in his village to initiate such  
a coup. Ian was able to establish through  
their minimal communication, that the chief  
was referring to the fact that there might  
be other natives that could join forces. He  
went back to the chief and asked if there  
were for sure? The chief answered in the  
affirmative. Ian then wondered how they  
communicated so he asked. The chief,  
unable to explain, put certain vegetation  
together, squeezed some different juices  
into what appeared to be a melon half. He  
then stirred the concoction vigorously,  
dunked the other half of the melon in the  
liquid then put it up to his ear. He handed  
it to Ian. Ian reluctantly held it up to his  
ear. He could hear voices. The chief then  
explained that what Ian was hearing was  
people from another tribe. Ian wasn't sure  
he understood right but if he did, what  
these people had invented was unheard of  
around the galaxy. Ian wanted to know how  
they let the other tribes know they were  
trying to communicate. The chief went  
and picked another strange weed from  
the vegetation around them. He lit it on  
fire and wafted the smoke in Ian's  
direction. The smell of the smoke was  
overwhelming. It was so powerful that he  
had to plug his nose and it still seemed to  
permeate the air, there was no escaping it.  
The chief then proposed that they wait a  
couple of days and listen for the others to  
communicate back. What was on the other  
side, that the other natives could hear Ian  
wondered? The chief pulled a fresh melon  
from one of the nearby trees. The melon  
itself acted as a transmitter. The liquid  
was the receiver. Ian proposed that the  
chief get the other tribes involved with  
the coup. The chief had to think about  
this but eventually agreed. The next day  
they would begin the process of  
communicating with the other tribes to  
form a coup against the Empire.

Ian was thrilled, during the coup he and  
Exit would be able to slip in and steal one  
of the shuttles and travel back to Magus  
for more inventions and ideas. When he  
told Exit about his idea, she wasn't as  
happy about it. She told him that some  
of the natives would most likely die. Ian  
hadn't thought of that. He then  
mentioned this to the chief. The chief  
then said that if death was what it took  
to be rid of the Empire, the warriors  
would commit to it. The tribe began to  
prepare for the up and coming battle.  
Exit still wasn't convinced, the Empire  
was strong and the natives weapons  
were no match for the modern  
weaponry of the Empire.

Frax is coming to his home world in the  
Solari. He's just outside of the planet and  
he can see it on the monitor with its  
impenetrable red haze. He puts the ship  
in static mode and waits for the Large  
Magusian ship to come around. Before  
long it does, Frax mumbles something  
to the ship in his language and the ship,  
somehow, broadcasts the message that  
he is about to land and needs a cube. The  
ship confirms that the message is sent.  
He pilots the ship into the vent area where  
Ian went in. A cube shows up but Frax is  
confused, he doesn't know how the ship  
he's in will fit into the cube. The main  
door to the cube opens and unbeknownst  
to Frax, his ship starts for the opening. He  
orders the ship to stop. It stops, he then  
asks the ship how it is planning on entering  
the tube. The ship answers back…

" _Prone._ "

Prone he wonders, what does that mean?  
The ship starts to move forward again. Frax  
wasn't ready for the ship to move and has  
to stabilize himself. He looks around… the  
ship begins to slant to the right. Frax isn't  
sure about this but straps himself in. When  
the Solari is lying completely on its right side,  
it proceeds into the cube. Not a scratch, the  
main door to the cube closes, Frax waits a  
second still sitting where he was but sideways  
now, there's no gravity is space so this is not a  
problem for Frax. In the next second he sees a  
bright light. When the light dissipates, the main  
door to the cube opens, the Solari moves out  
carefully, rights itself and lands. Frax is on the  
surface of Magus. Several people are around  
including the group that gave he and Renn  
permission to leave the planet. The door of the  
Solari opens and Frax steps out. His fellow  
Magusian's meet him all glad to see him. But  
they wonder where Renn is. Frax has to explain  
that Renn was killed during a battle on Corellia.  
The other Magusian's mourned his death.

They move to a meeting hall in the city near  
where Frax lives, he explains more of what  
happened. One of the Magusian officials  
brings up Frax' ship. Frax tells them that  
even Dr. Bartholomew had never even seen  
one. That the planet where they got it said  
it was alive, so to speak. They all murmured  
at that. As Frax tells of his tails, Magusian's  
never lie, the officials are shocked. Frax tells  
them knowing that they are browbeating him,  
they warned him that something like that  
might happen. Frax goes on to assure them  
that all his military training came into play  
and he was able to escape. They looked  
satisfied but Frax wasn't sure they really  
were. A couple of days later, the great  
ship sent a communicator that some  
strange ships had entered their sector  
of space. Frax asked him what the  
ships looked like. He said they were  
large, grey and triangular. Frax knew  
what that meant, he'd been followed  
by the Empire. They'd sent Star  
Destroyers to the area. That same day,  
later in the afternoon loud explosions  
began to ring out in the red haze above.  
The Magusian officials sent a messenger  
up to the great ship to see what was going  
on. When the messenger returned he told  
them that the Imperial ships were firing on  
the red haze in an attempt to open it up  
make the planet surface accessible. Frax  
was certain that they would then send Tie  
Fighters to do the dirty work. Magus had  
weapons but they had never needed to put  
them together with the ships they built. With  
exception to fighting with small arms they  
were defenseless. The pounding explosions  
were loud and relentless. The great ship had  
halted out of view from the Imperial ships  
though even with the Empires most  
powerful weapons, they were minuscule  
compared to the Magusian ship.  
Unfortunately, the large Magusian ship  
had no weapons. Eventually the Empire  
made a hole in the red haze. The Magusian's  
prepared for a war that was sure to end in  
their slaughter. Frax, being the military man  
that he was, joined the ranks to help if he  
could. He was next to the Solari when it  
started up. Frax looked over at it. There was  
no one around it, how was it that it was  
activated? The Solari then took off headed  
for the opening in the haze. Frax and some  
others watched it leave. Officials came to  
Frax thinking that he was going to try to  
use the little ship to defend them. But when  
they got to his position, he was still there.  
They asked Frax who was flying the ship.  
Frax told them, no-one.

Ian and Exit were very surprised when  
warriors from the other tribes showed up.  
The smell from the masses of stink-weed  
that they burned to alert the other tribes  
was still in the air. If that didn't discourage  
the Empire in and of itself, he would not  
be surprised. The other warriors had skirted  
the Empire as not to alert them. A plan  
would be devised. Ian was in on it and  
was very effective in designing weapons  
from the natural vegetation. The chief's  
were impressed and they had a few tricks  
of their own. But the main focus would be  
drawing the Imperial's out so that the speedy  
warriors could zoom in and cut them down  
before they knew what was happening.  
There must have been over five-hundred  
warriors that joined the present tribe. The  
chief of their tribe wanted to know what  
Ian and Exit would be doing during all of  
this? Ian had to explain that he and Exit  
would be trying to steal a ship. The chief  
was not impressed, he thought that the  
two should be joining the ranks in the battle.  
Ian then explained that if he were able to  
obtain a good enough ship, that he would  
be able to obtain great weapons to clean  
the Empire off other planets who'd suffered  
the same fate. The chief thought about it,  
then agreed. Ranks were formed as best  
they could be with the disorder of the  
natives. They would march to a location  
where the first Empire manned facility was.  
Then, when they were close, several people  
were set to go out and act in a way that  
would bring Imperial ground troops outside.  
They would then attack the ground troops.  
Ian interjected during the planning that the  
Empires communications would have to be  
taken out if they were to be able to attack  
the next facility unimpeded by an attack  
from the air. But the Empires communications  
were the least of their problems. The masses  
of tribal forces were detected by Imperial ships  
in space. The Empire would be ready for them.  
At first, some of the Imperial ground forces  
were sent out. The native warriors were  
able to attack and kill most of them. Ian  
knew something was wrong. The amount  
of Imperial ground troops wasn't near the  
amount that he had hoped for. He looked  
up, in his mind he knew that the ships in  
space must have alerted the forces in the  
facility to their advances. Ian tried to tell  
the chief that they were in danger of being  
attacked from the air. The chief ignored  
Ian's advice and ordered the attack to  
continue. He ordered more gofers to try  
to coax more ground troops out. But  
when the gofers went out again, no one  
else came. Before long Tie Fighters came  
in from the air and began strafing the area  
where the native forces were. All hell broke  
loose. The native warriors scattered, some  
were killed during the first strafing run.  
Some of the warriors came out from the  
piles of junk and attempted to attack the  
facility. Gunners from positions in the facility  
fired down on them killing them off easily.  
The few that lived, scattered back into the  
piles of Corellian ship yard waste. The Tie  
Fighters are coming around again, there  
are only four of them. They strafe the area  
again killing more of the natives. Many of  
the natives use their sensational speed to  
evade the Imperial onslaught. Just about  
the time the Tie fighters come around for  
a third strafing run one of them explodes.  
The other three scatter taking evasive  
maneuvers. Alliance fighters come racing  
in, some Jedy, some rebel soldiers. More  
Tie Fighters enter the planet's atmosphere.  
The Alliance ships disband and go after the  
Tie Fighters. Many of the Native warriors  
come back, newly invigorated, they begin  
attacking ground troops. More Imperial ships  
enter the space around Corellia. Alliance ships,  
large and small join the battle.

 **18\. Followed**

There are four Star Destroyers in the space  
around Magus. They are trying to widen a  
space in the red haze by continuing to pound  
it with laser cannons. A small group of Tie  
Fighters and Sith Fighter ships leave the one  
of the Star Destroyers but they don't see the  
Solari come up through the hole, it fires on the  
small fighter ships. Before long the Solari  
destroys the Tie Fighters, the Sith are another  
story. The empty Solari is more agile than the  
Sith ships. They fly around firing on the Solari  
but either it evades the shots or its advanced  
shields keep the laser bolts from hitting the  
fuselage. It whips around, and fires on the Sith.  
They evade it for awhile but they tire.

The Solari has them, it fires on one destroying  
it. It seems to know just where to hit them,  
disabling their shields and then destroying  
them. One Sith ship down. It swings around  
and fires again. Two Sith ships down. It  
disappears behind a Star Destroyer. The  
gunners on the Star Destroyer have lost  
it as well. Radar specialists track it behind  
a Star Destroyer but can't fire on their own  
ships. The last two Sith try to trap it when  
it comes around the underside of the Star  
Destroyer. They track the Solari to the  
underside of the Star Destroyers. The Sith  
wait for it. In the mean time, it disappears  
from the radar. They wonder what happened  
to it. Actually it blew open the bay doors of  
the Imperial Ship and entered her. The  
radar experts watch their screens. The  
Solari re-appears after a few moments.  
They inform the Sith ships and direct their  
attacks. What no one knows is that while  
inside one of the Star Destroyers, it took  
out some of the main reactors and ditched.  
The Star Destroyer explodes taking out the  
two Sith in its fiery wake. Before anyone can  
find it again, it blows open the bay doors on  
another Star Destroyer. Inside, Imperial solders  
and Imperial Droids fire on it. Its shields are  
impervious to small arms fire. It turns and  
fires on the solders and Imperial Droids  
killing them instantly. Its gunfire like the  
guns on the ship that Boba Fett flew in one  
of the last movies. More gun fire from behind  
it. It turns and fires taking out another  
position. It immediately takes off blowing  
through bulkheads until it reaches important  
parts of the ship. It fires causing havoc in the  
reactor section. It blows its way out of the  
bottom of the Star Destroyer. It gets far  
enough away that when the second Star  
Destroyer explodes, no harm comes to it.  
The third and fourth Star Destroyers have  
taken up positions where they can fire on  
the small ship. The Solari can't decide which  
one to fight first. The Star Destroyers begin  
firing on it. It targets weapons on each  
Imperial ship, switching back and forth but  
quickly, taking out some of the weapons  
one at a time. Then it turns and fires on  
the other taking out gunner positions. The  
other Star Destroyer gets organized and  
fires on it again.

On the surface of the planet, the  
Magusian's have gotten together and  
activated one of their huge weapons.  
They fire one burst through the opening  
in the haze. The huge laser bolt hits the  
underside of one of the two Star Destroyers.  
The Star Destroyer splits, then explodes.  
The Solari turns and fires on the last Star  
Destroyer. It takes out several of its weapons  
but the Star Destroyer endures and  
eventually prevails. It destroys the Solari.  
But just as the Imperialists think they're  
safe, the huge Magusian ship comes in.  
The officials on the Star Destroyer see it  
coming, it's as if a planet were descending  
on them. It rams the Star Destroyer wrecking  
it like a side-swiped car. The Imperial ship  
crumples and explodes leaving only a small  
black spot on the giant ship. The militia on  
the surface don their other ships most of  
which are prototypes. They're not armed  
but they will be by the time they get to  
Corellia. Frax rallies all of them to him and  
they head off.

On Corellia Ian and Exit are able to enter  
one of the facilities. It's pandemonium so  
no one really notices the two rebels making  
their way through the inside labyrinth of  
buildings and corridors. Ian knows exactly  
where the Shuttles are but they are quite  
a distance from their current position. Ian  
tells Exit that he's trying to think of a way  
for them to get to the Shuttle manufacturing  
facility faster. There are turbo lifts but they  
will be monitored so Ian won't be able to  
use them and accessing one would surely  
give them away. Outside most of the  
Imperial ground troops have been killed  
or have moved inside protected by the  
facility gunners. The small natives have  
to retreat back into the masses of junk  
in order to hide and regroup. Several of  
the Sith ships have landed, taken to foot  
pursuit and mean to go after the natives.  
This gets noticed by the Rebels and several  
Rebel forces and Jedy land to counter the  
Sith intrusion. Before long, Imperial soldiers  
and Imperial Droids from the ships in space  
are on the ground also.

It's all out war between the Rebels and the  
Empire. Some of the facilities on Corellia  
get damaged, some even destroyed. Imperial  
ground attack vehicles are sent in and  
dropped off to join the battle. Ian and Exit  
find an abandoned inter-facility transport  
but it's broken down for some reason. Ian  
tries to fix it but that's when Imperial officials  
catch them. One of the officials notices Ian  
from the day they met him in his apartment  
where he escaped. There are about twenty  
of them with weapons pointed at Ian and  
Exit. Ian and Exit have to desist and raise  
their hands.

The official walks up to Ian. " _I remember you.  
We met at your apartment one day. You  
escaped into the ventilation system as I  
remember._"

Ian, still holding his hands in the air, squints  
trying to remember the man.

" _You don't remember me do you?_ " The officer  
asks Ian.

Ian is still looking at him but is having trouble  
remembering not to mention the fact that  
being at gun point doesn't help his nerves any.

" _I'm Commander **Leo Mantisa** , remember,  
I'm the one who originated the plans for the  
space station._"

" _Oh, yes, I remember you now._ " Ian says  
nervously.

" _I saw some of the blueprints that you made up  
for the space station, they were… quite interesting._"  
Says the commander.

" _Oh, thank you… I think._ " Says Ian.

" _Dr. why did you run, we had not threatened  
you in any way?_" He orders one of the other  
officers with him to call Darth Sidiously and  
let him know the Dr. has been captured while  
he waits for Ian to answer. The man gets on  
a comm.. and calls.

" _I… I had other plans._ " Says Ian not knowing  
what else to say.

The commander looks at Exit. " _Was she one  
of them?_"

Ian sees that the commander is looking at Exit.  
" _I… well… she…_ "

The commander, with a blaster pointed at her,  
shoots her. She drops to the floor having been  
damaged. Ian breaks down and tries to go to  
her.

" _Dr. Bartholomew,_ " She says in a broken voice  
as he holds her head in his arms crying, "You  
can make another one of me. Don't worry, I  
don't feel anything."

Ian looks up at the man, he looks down at Exit  
then up at the man again. His face grimaces and  
he aggresses the commander. Another one of the  
officers with the commander knocks Ian out with  
the butt of his blaster. Ian is out cold.

" _I hope you didn't kill him._ " Says the commander  
in a calm voice.

" _He'll be ok._ " Says the other officer.

" _Take them, throw her in one of the incinerators,  
lock him up somewhere. I don't care where. When  
Darth Sidiously gets here, we'll cut him loose to  
the head man._"

The other officers pick up Ian and Exit. The ones  
with Ian go one way, the others pick her up,  
one on each limb. They are going to take Exit  
to a nearby incinerator but she's heavy and  
they struggle to move her.

Darth Sidiously has received the message  
but there are other Sith where he is. He's  
busy observing and coordinating the battle  
and sends the other two Sith to get Ian.

Yodi is near the situation in his own ship. He  
is with Senator Organa, they're together  
with other Rebel officers planning what  
they are going to do once they reach  
Corellia. They are in the lead ship of a  
Rebel Armada, speeding on their way to  
join the battle on Corellia.

 **Darth Athala, Darth Obdris** are the two  
Sith that Darth Sidiously has sent to get  
Ian. On their way they're met by the Jedy  
master, **Kiber Storm.**

From a covert position we spy the four  
Imperial officers carrying Exit. The officers  
take her into one of the manufacturing  
facilities which is in full use constructing  
something for a ship but because of the  
mayhem around them, are beginning to  
cease operations. All the machines are  
working and all the Corellian workers are  
manning them but are, one at a time  
beginning to shut them down and the  
workers, concerned for their own lives,  
begin to look around wondering what to  
do. The room is still active and loud. The  
men carrying Exit stop, one of the  
Imperial officers sets his part of her  
down and asks over all the noise, where  
the nearest incinerator is. The Corellian  
worker says something but the noise  
drowns him out but he points. The officer  
|acknowledges him, picks up his part of  
Exit and they continue to drag her toward  
the incinerator. The spy is watching the  
whole thing although no one around him  
seems to be paying any attention to him.  
Probably because he's using his Jedy powers  
to distract their attention. The Imperial  
officers enlist the help of some of the  
workers to assist them in hauling Exit  
up some metal stairs to an incinerator.  
They finally reach it, one of the workers  
opens the door. Furious fire heats the area  
around the opening causing all of them to  
wince from the hot air. One of the Imperial  
officers instructs the rest of them, over the  
noise, to throw her in. One of the workers  
protests, he can see that she's still active.  
They argue a little, finally the leading officer  
picks her up, the other Imperial officers jump  
in to assist. They are about to toss her in  
when the Jedy spy jumps out, Light Saber  
ignited. It's **Dodge**. Over the noise which  
dies down now that he's in the room and  
not controlling people's minds. The rest  
workers shut down their machines to see  
what's going on.

" _I know her._ " He says.

One of the officers drops her and tries to go  
for his blaster. Dodge may be old but he's  
just as fast as ever, he cuts the four officers  
down with a few swipes of his weapon. He  
cradles Exits head in his arms. " _Young w  
oman, where is Dr. Bartholomew?_"

In a broken voice, " _They've… taken him…  
I… I don't… know… where._"

Dodge scoops her up and heads out of the  
plant. Some of the workers cheer and all  
make way for him.

Kiber and the two Sith are in battle with  
Light Sabers. Kiber is holding his own but  
the two Sith are seasoned warriors. Kiber  
is a no nonsense kind of guy, he takes  
everything seriously. His skill with the  
Light Saber is unprecedented. The two  
Sith are good even as individuals but  
they have their hands full with Kiber. If  
one of them gets cut down, Kiber will  
end the other. Some of the Imperial  
soldiers and officers in the area see  
what's going on and begin to move  
in the direction of the Sith/Jedy  
battle hoping to turn things in favor  
of the Sith. Several of them begin to  
point their blasters hoping to get a shot  
off. They close in on the battle, one fires  
but misses. Kiber is aware of the other  
imperial presents but doesn't dare take  
his focus off of the two Sith. He battles  
on, another one of the imperial soldiers  
fires. Kiber is able to refocus his attention  
for a split second to deflect the blaster shot  
away. More fire, Kiber has to hide behind  
something in order to avoid the shots  
and the Sith. The two Sith move quickly  
after him. The Imperial soldiers move  
closer, more firing as they close in. **Dodge**  
comes out of nowhere. He begins to cuts  
down the Imperial troops allowing Kiber to  
get back into the fight.

Outside, some of the Rebels are warring  
with imperial ground troops. As if  
something invisible has come in to  
help, the Imperial soldiers begin to fall.  
Imperial Droids stop firing and look  
around wondering what's happening.  
Before long, more begin to fall, blood  
comes from the wounds of the fallen.  
Rebel soldiers take advantage of the  
confusion and come out from behind  
protective cover to take clean shots  
at the other Imperial's.

Kiber sees what's happening and tries  
to one up the two Sith. They haven't  
let what's happening behind them  
distract their attention. Kiber has all  
he can do to fend off the two Dark  
Side rejects. Dodge is now being fired  
upon by some of the Imperial's around  
but gets his bearings enough to begin  
deflecting some of the blaster shots  
back at the ones who fired them  
cutting them down.

Outside, Imperial ground vehicles begin  
to assist the ground troops in fighting  
off some of the enemy. The natives  
are good and quick but can't do  
anything against the armored  
vehicles which are well armed.

In the air the battle goes on as well,  
some Tie fighters chasing and firing  
on Rebel ships and some Rebel ships  
chasing and firing on Tie Fighters. A  
Rebel ship flies by with two Tie Fighters  
in tow. He's trying to out-fly them but  
they keep on him. He mistakenly clips  
one of the elevator towers extending  
into a space building facility. The tower  
is destroyed where the ship hit it.  
Clipping the tower spins the Rebel Ship  
around, sending him crashing into  
another elevator tower under construction.  
The tower under construction collapses  
and the Rebel ship bursts into a fire ball  
and plummets to the ground. The two Tie  
Fighters look for another battle to join.  
The Tie fighters outnumber the rebel  
ships three to one. The Rebel ships are  
slowly losing ground.

In space, Rebel Alliance ships, large and  
small begin to drop out of light speed  
firing as they come. More of the Rebel  
fighters come out of bays on the larger  
ships, some join the fight in space, others  
head toward the planet surface.

Dodge has cut down most of the Imperial's  
allowing Kiber to focus all his attention on  
the two Sith. Dodge jumps in and pulls  
one of the Sith out of the battle with  
Kiber. Now the Sith fighting Kiber  
realizes he's in trouble. Dodge battles  
his Sith, the two Light Sabers  
humming and crackling as they whisk  
through the air and connect. Dodge  
drives his opponent back. He's older  
and tired and doesn't have the  
patients to drag the fight out. He  
and the Sith clash Sabers but when  
Dodge sees an opportunity, he runs  
his opponent through. The Sith stands  
looking at him with pain and defeat in  
his eyes just before he falls dead. More  
Imperial's come in and Dodge must deflect  
more blaster shots. Kiber, driving his Sith  
back, finally cuts off one arm, then the  
other, then his head. What's left of the  
Sith body drops to the floor lifeless and  
dead, the head rolling away. Dodge and  
Kiber can now focus on the Imperial's but  
they run off knowing that they can't  
possibly win against the two Jedy. Kiber  
scoops Exit off the floor and asks Dodge  
where he's headed. Dodge leads the way.

Now, in the air above the planet, increased  
Rebel fighters keep the Tie Fighters busy  
while others begin firing on the heavy armor  
protected ground vehicles. Some of the ground  
vehicles begin firing on the Rebel ships but can't  
hit anything in the air with accuracy. In space  
large Rebel ships combat Imperial Star  
Destroyers. Again, the Star Destroyer shields  
holding up much better than the rebel ones.  
Smaller rebel ships and Tie fighters face off  
against one another, the Tie fighters seem  
to be fairing the worst though agile in space  
none-the-less and difficult to hit.

Dodge, at the instruction of a damaged  
Exit, finally brings the three to where  
they were holding Ian. A short scuffle  
with Corellian and Imperial guards ensues.  
But Dodge and Kiber prevail without so  
much as a stray shot in their direction.  
Ian is ok and thrilled to see that Dodge  
has returned for them. Ian is behind a  
ray shield. He instructs Dodge on how  
to deactivate the ray shield holding Ian  
in. Kiber introduces Dodge to Ian.

" _We've met._ " Ian says as they start to run  
off.

Ian picks up the blaster from one of the  
dead guards and they're off and running  
again. They start for an access to the  
outside but Ian stops them. He came  
for an Imperial shuttle and with his  
new help, he would get one. Along the  
way, the four are met with some  
resistance but most of the battle was  
going on outside or in space. Ian was  
right in there shooting with the other  
two becoming quite the soldier. There  
were some of the Corellian workers  
running around, most looking for cover  
hoping to avoid the situation outside.  
Kiber and Dodge have to stop a couple  
of times and rescue some of the workers  
from Imperial soldiers holding them at  
gunpoint as to continue their work once  
the Empire had won the battle. The four  
come upon a manufacturing staging area  
and all in- doors. Ships as far as the eye could  
see sitting and waiting for the Empire or Rebels  
to purchase them. They jump in a small  
transport and begin looking for the infamous  
Shuttles. Kiber drives, Exit lays across one of  
the seats. Ian is looking at her with some  
concern on his face. Dodge notices but tells  
Ian she'll be ok until they can get into a ship  
and away from the fighting. Ian explains that  
she will need parts. Along the way they find  
a droid parts station and stop. They hear the  
fighting going on outside. Suddenly a huge  
explosion blows open one of the walls near  
the parts station. The battle comes inside and  
it's bad. Several Imperial ground vehicles come  
in with warring ground troops from both sides  
as well. The battle is fierce. One of the ground  
vehicles comes toward the parts station.  
Weapons are armed and pointed. Ian, Kiber  
and Dodge stop what they're doing, drop their  
weapons, Light Sabers and all, and put up their  
hands. A hatch opens on the vehicle and a set  
of steps comes out with a machine noise. Count  
Dooku comes out followed by several Imperial  
Droids. Dodge thinks they're safe for the moment  
but it isn't long before Count Dooku makes it  
clear that he is no longer with the good guys.

" _Dodge, it has been a long time._ " Says Count  
Dooku.

" _Count, good to see another Jedy here._ " Says  
Dodge suspiciously.

" _I'm sorry old friend but my allegiance is now  
with the Empire._" Says Dooku.

 _"I wondered when you didn't tell your minions  
to lower their weapons._" Says Dodge.

" _Dooku, we wondered what happened to you._ "  
Says Kiber.

" _Kiber Storm, Yodi holds you in high regard. You  
are most likely set to be summoned to the Jedy  
council. Unfortunately, I'm afraid you will be  
dead before that happens._" Says Dooku.

" _That why you became a trader Dooku?_ " Kiber  
asks.

" _Trader… no my friend, not a trader, I was always  
with the Empire._" Says Dooku.

" _So, are you an Ex-Jedy or a Sith?_ " Dodge asks.

" _Let me put it to you this way, my real name  
is Lord Tyrannous._" Says Dooku.

" _That explains a lot._ " Says Dodge.

" _It does?_ " Asks Kiber as he looks at Dodge  
funny.

" _I would like to keep this conversation going  
but we really do need to get moving. The  
battle is still going on around us and we  
need to move out of its way. Darth  
Sidiously will be glad to know that I  
have you and will want to know soon._"  
Says Dooku.

He makes an ushering gesture with his  
hand. " _Please… all of you, get on board.  
Leave the droid girl, we won't be needing  
her._"

Ian gets mad. Count Dooku senses their  
relationship and knows that he'll piss Ian  
off if they leave her behind and that's all  
he wants to do, is mess with Ian, diverting  
their attention.

The battle does rage on around them.  
The Imperial Droids begin to usher the  
three at rifle point onto the vehicle. A  
group of Corellian soldiers and a Corellian  
leader begin to fire on the Imperial Droids  
ushering our hero's in. They cut down the  
Imperial Droids, Dooku dashes back into  
the armored vehicle when he sees Kiber  
and Dodge grab their Light Sabers. Dooku  
gets away. The vehicle begins firing and  
moves out of the building. Ian picks up his  
rifle.

The new group, **Carth Dettun** and fellow  
Corellian soldiers showed up just in time. Ian  
recognizes him and doesn't trust him but  
plays along just in case.

" _Carth._ " Says Ian.

" _Dr. Bartholomew, we thought we'd lost  
you._" Says Carth. " _Are you ok?_ "

Ian looks over Carth's shoulder. " _Well I'll-be._ "

Dodge turns around to see what Ian is  
looking at. Behind them, lines of just built  
Shuttles.

" _One of those?_ " Dodge asks.

" _That's what I'm looking for_." Says Ian.

" _Perfect,"_ Says Carth, " _you designed  
those Dr. It's only right that you should  
have one._"

Ian looks at him like, " _I'd have taken one anyway._ "

All the doors are open, and the ramps extended  
in front. Ian picks up Exit, shoulders his bag of  
parts and they all run on board including  
Carth and his Corellian henchmen.

Outside the battle is raging. The Shuttle is  
piloted out of the hole made by the explosion  
and begins to head off to space. They  
immediately send a signal to the Rebels  
that there are friendly's on board. The Empire,  
of course, doesn't get the signal. "We're all  
on big happy family." Ian thinks as he locks  
on several of the Imperial ground vehicles  
and fires. The Imperial ground vehicles all get  
several huge laser pulses blowing them into  
little pieces. By the time some of the Tie  
Fighters catch on, Ian has locked on to  
several of them, he fires, destroying them  
and giving the Rebel forces a much needed  
break in the action. The Shuttle heads to  
outer space. Once in space Ian sees that  
the Alliance also needs help. Dodge and  
Kiber both run to the helm urging Ian to  
engage the Imperial Tie Fighters. Ian gets  
a lock on several of them and fires turning  
them into fire balls that disintegrate as  
they move.

Unfortunately, the larger Star Destroyers  
also get a whiff of what's happening and  
fire on the shuttle. The shuttle has superior  
shields but can't hold up too long against  
major pounding of the weapons on the Star  
Destroyers. Ian tries to steer the Shuttle  
clear of the Star destroyers but there are  
too many of them. No matter where he  
goes, the Shuttle gets pounded. Kiber tells  
Ian that their shields are losing strength.  
Ian is able to fire a few shots at the Star  
Destroyers, he completely obliterates any  
Tie Fighters that he fires at but the Star  
Destroyers are still having an effect. Ian  
asks Kiber to take over. Ian goes and sits  
next to Carth and his soldiers as if taking  
a break from the action.

" _Man am I glad you came along._ " Says Ian  
as he begins to work on repairing Exit.

Explosions rattle the Shuttle. " _Dr.  
Bartholomew, we can't lose you. You're  
too important to Corellia. To be honest, I  
was afraid that we'd lose too much capital  
without you there. No offence._" Says Carth.

Ian looks up smiling while he continues to  
work on Exit. " _None taken. I'm glad I'm so  
valuable._"

Carth nods at one of his soldiers. The soldier  
unbuckles himself, picks up his rifle and fires  
at the counsel in front of Kiber, then fires at  
Kiber knocking him down. Dodge pulls his  
Light Saber and deflects shots at him. He  
dives in front of Ian and deflects more shots  
at Ian. Ian sees Carth going for his blaster,  
grabs the end of Carth's rifle and points it  
away from everyone. The Shuttle is down  
and adrift in space. Carth tries to wrestle  
the rifle away from Ian but Ian is too  
strong. Ian stands up, still holding the end  
of the rifle, he hauls Carth off the ground.  
Carth lets go of the rifle but before he can  
do anything else, Ian throws a smashing  
right hook into Carth's face knocking him  
almost clean out. Dodge mops up the other  
soldiers and for the time being they are safe  
again. But now they have no shields or  
weapons and are adrift in space. Ian runs to  
the helm window. Dodge checks Kiber to see  
if he's ok. Kiber is barely alive. Ian sees that  
a Star Destroyer is right in front of them and  
closing.

" _Oh shit._ " Says Ian.

Dodge looks up. He sees the Star Destroyer  
bearing down on them. " _We're dead._ "

" _We…_ " Ian is about to say something when  
he sees something else out the front window  
of the Shuttle. The gigantic Magusian ship that  
was in orbit around Magus is coming at the Star  
Destroyer. It side swipes the Star Destroyer  
causing it to explode. More of the Magusian  
prototype ships come in firing. Huge weapons  
fire from the **Copious** (The gigantic Magusian  
ship). The weapons are so powerful that they  
destroy the Star Destroyers with one blast. The  
Copious has dared to leave the security of the  
Magus home world to help Ian and exact revenge  
for his father's death.

The Empire is losing its but with the Rebels  
bearing down on one side and the Magusian's  
on the other. They have to turn tail and run.

Inside the Shuttle, Exit is coming around. She  
still needs repairs but Ian has fixed her enough  
to where she can at least move some and  
talk again. Kiber is badly injured. They dock  
with one of the large Rebel ships. Kiber is  
rushed to a medical frigate but the doctors  
assure everyone that he'll be ok. Yodi comes  
down with senator Organa and several Jedy  
in tow. Dodge looks up and sees Yodi.

The battle for Corellia is won by the good  
guys. All the ships on the good side of the  
battle land on platforms around Coruscant.  
Cut back to the medical frigate.

." _Yodi!_ " Dodge yells.

The two embrace.

" _A long time, it has been master Dodge._ " Says  
Yodi.

" _Master Dodge, now that's a name I've not  
heard in a long time._" Says Dodge.

Yodi introduces the Senator to Dodge. Dodge  
introduces Ian to Yodi. Yodi looks at Ian.

" _Looking for you, we have been._ " Says Yodi.

" _And… who are you?_ " Asks Ian

Dodge jumps in… " _I'm sorry Ian, this is Master  
Yodi, he's the head of the Jedy council. He  
trained all of u_s."

" _Trained you, but… you are…_ " Ian cuts off his  
own words for Dodge to finish. Yodi looks  
down in humility.

" _…Eighty-six._ " Says Dodge, " _Yodi is over  
Eight-hundred years old._"

" _Eight-hun…_ " Ian cuts off.

" _That's not that old._ " Frax cuts in.

" _Frax!_ " Ian runs over and hugs him.  
Frax hugs Ian back.

Frax walks up and joins the conversation.

" _Who is this?_ " Yodi asks.

" _Yes, who is this?_ " Dodge asks also.

" _This is Frax, he's the one who led the  
charge of the prototype ships. The  
ones that came in…_" Ian gets cut off.

" _…And the day, saved you._ " Yodi finishes.

They all laugh.

 **19\. History of a living ship**

That night, in a large decorated room on  
Coruscant, a huge bash is put on in  
celebration of the just won war. Much  
fanfare happens and they reward all  
those involved in the victory against  
the Empire.

The question that vexes them now is,  
where did the Solari come from? Ian  
asks several of the Corellian leaders  
about it. None of them seems to know.

Dodge comes up to Ian. " _I hear you're  
asking about Solari_?"

Ian is surprised that Dodge has any  
knowledge of it at all. Dodge continues…

" _It's origin is on the planet of Malachor V._ "

Ian has heard of it. Dodge explains, " _Malachor  
V is actually an unapproachable planet. If  
anyone gets too close, the electronic field  
around it, reaches out and destroys them.  
It doesn't seem to have any known failings.  
No matter what comes near it, it destroys._"

" _So what does that have to do with Solari?_ " Ian  
asks.

" _About every hundred years or so, it seems to…  
give birth, allowing these ships to leave the  
atmosphere. It only allows about twelve of  
them to leave at any time. This is all  
scientifically theorized of course._"

" _Of course._ " Say Ian.

Now others have gathered around listening  
in, including Exit. They want to know what  
Ian is so interested in. When Ian Listens,  
people talk.

" _The ships are seemingly… alive. They have  
an uncanny ability to fight and determine who  
it needs to help in a time of great need. I believe  
that the Force is responsible for it. No one can get  
close enough to the planet to make a better  
assessment of the situation. I believe this planet  
may be where the Force originated. If you look  
at the history records from around the galaxy,  
many of the great wars where won based on  
the existence of these ships. The ships are only  
eluded to, not given names or a description of  
its appearance so there is no proof that it was  
like Solari or from that planet. A figure from  
history supposedly saw the planet giving birth  
to these ships. But no one really knows the  
truth and no one in this generation has seen  
this happen. I have noticed one thing about  
the ships, they live for a long time, they're not  
indestructible, and I've seen Solari in action. I  
was a child when I saw it. I had been in training  
with Yodi at the time. I was beginning to receive  
training in the ways of the Force. I touched the  
ship. Although most seem to think that I was  
too young to notice, I believe I felt the Force  
emanating from it._"

" _Wow._ " Says Ian. " _How do I get one of these,  
is there more?_"

" _I don't know, I have not seen another in my  
life time. But I think, if you need one, it will know  
and it will find you._" Says Dodge.

" _Does anyone know about its make-up, how it  
works, what powers it?_" Asks Ian.

" _Not that I'm aware of. And all this is based on  
things I've read or heard._"

Frax adds in. " _It was destroyed while defending  
our planet._"

" _It probably knew your planet needed help. The  
fact that it was destroyed seems to indicate  
that it was at the end of its life. They don't  
last forever. Like any living being, it too  
must die._" Says Dodge. " _They are not  
infallible but they can usually endure  
quite a bit. I find it surprising that it  
was so easily destroyed. How did the  
battle end?_"

"We were able to bring one of our  
larger weapons systems online. We  
fired it through a hole in the haze that  
protects our planet. We managed to hit  
one of the Imperial ships destroying it.  
The Solari took out most of them. We  
have a gigantic ship…"

Dodge cuts Frax off, " _…I saw it, where is it  
from?_"

" _That… my friend is something I cannot  
talk about._"

" _Then don't. Some things are better kept a  
secret._" Says Dodge.

" _That is true._ " Says Ian

Several days later back on Corellia, Ian is  
installed in place of the recently deceased  
Carth as the supreme leader. Over the next  
couple of months, Ian puts Corellia back in  
shape. Manufacturing goes on but Corellia  
is for the moment, in better shape than it  
ever has been. A lot of the junk that was  
rusting around the facilities is being removed  
and recycled. Headquarters is getting a face lift,  
new elevator towers are being built to the  
facilities in space and where the junk was, is  
now a new part of the facilities that it surrounded.

The natives have things a lot better and a team  
has been formed to indoctrinate them into the  
Corellian way of life. Nethers are getting better  
treatment and better housing and the Nether  
program is being revamped.

A huge meeting of the Corellian officials is  
taking place. The meeting hall is adorned  
with decorations of Celebration. All of the  
Corellian officials, Dodge, Kiber, Yodi, Senator  
Organis, Frax, Several other Magusian officials  
and officials from the Rebellion are in  
attendance. But where is Ian and Exit?

We cut to a little bar called SWEETS on the  
planet of Tatoinne. The locals imbibe, Exit  
serves tables and Ian tends bar. And in the  
back of the bar, behind a heavy metal door,  
a large cavernous room sits, barely lit,  
housing the Shuttle and several other  
experimental ships, most of which are  
in the process of being built.

The camera backs up and begins to move  
upward showing only the front of Sweets.

Just before that, the Star Wars Theme begins  
in the background.

In space the Resistance is met by more Imperial  
Star Destroyers and has to make a run for it. Yodi  
is not pleased.

" _A way there must be, defeat the Empire we must._ "  
Says Yodi to Bail and other officials around him.

The End


End file.
